The Shadow of the Past
by lghngslly09
Summary: Liza Jones is now a second year at Hogwarts. Strange things happen as students start to turn up petrified and Harry Potter is the one being accused of causing it. Liza must help her friend clear his name before anything worse happens... Sequel to "Welcome to the World"
1. Chapter 1 A Marvelous Birthday

_**A/N: Welcome to story number 2 of my Harry Potter fanfics. Fun fact, this chapter was originally a lot longer; then I realized it was probably too long, so I ended up splitting it up. Which is why this chapter seems short compared to the next one.**_

_**As always, Harry Potter does not belong to me, as does nothing else from the Harry Potter world.**_

**~LJ:SP~**

**Chapter 1 – A Marvelous Birthday**

It was a rather beautiful July morning in New Jersey. Elizabeth Jones—Liza, to those who knew her—was lying on her bed, grinning at the ceiling. Not only was it her birthday, she was going to visit her most favorite family later that day. One of her best friends, Ron Weasley, had invited her to come and stay with his family until it was time to go back to school.

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Liza's heart ached just thinking about the place. Hogwarts truly was a home away from home. She couldn't wait to get back and see the rest of her friends.

"Liza!" Sue Jones called from another part of the house. Sue was Liza's adoptive mother. Liza's real parents had been killed by followers of You-Know-Who—the darkest, most evil wizard of his time—but Liza was brought to Sue and her husband Dan for safety before her real parents had died. If her real parents had survived, Liza would have gone back to living with them in England. But they hadn't, and so Liza stay in the United States with the Jonses.

Fortunately, since Liza was born in England, her name had been listened at Hogwarts. Professor Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts, had therefore extended an invitation to Liza, and she had gladly excepted.

"Yeah, Mom?" Liza yelled back now. She slowly sat up, looking around her room. It was pretty bare, seeing as everything she needed for school was packed away in her trunk.

"Come here for a moment, sweetheart," Sue said. Liza sighed and pushed herself to her feet. Her cat Boots lifted her head to look at Liza. Liza trudged from her room and down the hall. The first place she checked was the kitchen, and sure enough, Sue was in there. She was sitting at the table, reading a book.

"What's up, Mom?" Liza asked, coming to a halt in front of Sue.

"Did you finish cleaning your room?" Sue asked, looking up from her book.

"Yeah," Liza answered, feeling slightly annoyed. Why had she come all the way down here just to answer that question?

"All packed? Sure you have everything?" Sue pressed.

"Yes, Mom," Liza replied. Sue could hear the annoyance in her adopted daughter's voice. She placed her bookmark in her book and let the cover close.

"Liza, I just want to make sure you're absolutely certain that you're ready for school," Sue said. "I know you love it over there, I really do." Guilt immediately filled Liza's gut.

"Mom, I love you, and Dad," she assured her mom. "Yes, I love it there, but I love it here, too." Sue smiled sadly.

"Oh, I know, honey," she said. "It's hard to see my daughter start to grow up." Liza rolled her eyes but smiled.

"Mom, I'm only twelve," she mumbled.

"Oh, I know," Sue replied. "So, when are the Weasleys expecting you?"

"Noon!" Liza announced, her smile growing. "Then it'll be right around dinner for them. Mrs. Weasley said not to eat anything before I leave." Sue let out a quiet chuckle.

"Well, that's all I really wanted to know," she said. "Dad will be home to say goodbye." Liza nodded then hurried back to her room. Boots was still curled up on the bed, snoozing as always. Liza scratched the cat's head before moving to her dresser. There was a small mirror against the wall above the dresser, and Liza looked carefully at her reflection.

Liza smiled to herself. She felt a great deal older than she did on her last birthday. It was probably because of completing her first year at school. Before last year, she had never been to a school before. Physically, she was starting to look different as well. She had grown a few inches over the past year, and she had cut her once-long hair from hanging down to the middle of her back to only falling to the spot between her shoulder blades.

After contemplating her appearance for a while, Liza picked up the only thing laying on the dresser top. It was a silver locket necklace with the initials "L.E." on it. She had received it for Christmas the previous year, and according to the giver, it had belonged to her real mother. Liza fastened the necklace behind her neck and fixed her hair so it wasn't under the chain.

"Liza!" Dan, Liza's adoptive father, called from below. He must have just arrived home, Liza determined, and she hurried out of her room and back down the stairs.

"Hi, Dad!" she exclaimed, hurrying up to her father. She wrapped her arms around his middle, and he hugged her back tightly.

"All set, pumpkin?" he asked as he pulled away. "Got everything packed up and ready to go?"

"Yes, Daddy," Liza replied, giggling. Dan smiled sadly down at her.

"You're mother and I are going to miss you very much," he said. "I hope you don't forget about us when you're off having all kinds of wonderful adventures."

"I won't forget you guys," Liza said immediately. "Of course I won't. I love you guys." Dan chuckled quietly.

"Well, do you need some help carrying your trunk down from your room?" he asked. Liza nodded.

"It's pretty heavy," she informed him. "I don't think I could carry it down by myself."

"The great part about being of age," Dan started, "is that I have the help of magic on my side." He winked at Liza, who giggled again. "Come on, you better show me where everything is." Liza led her father upstairs and pointed out her trunk. As Dan levitated it out of the room and down the stairs, Liza took a last look around the room. Everything was put away in its place. The only remaining thing was to put Boots in her carrier.

"C'mon, Bootsie," Liza cooed, scooping up her cat. Boots squirmed a bit, but Liza held fast. She picked up the carrier and put Boots inside it, who immediately mewed in protest. "Oh, shush, Boots. When we get to the Burrow you'll get to roam free." Boots quieted a little as though she had understood what Liza had said but was still annoyed at being in the carrier.

"Liza!" Sue called from below. "Liza, there's someone here to see you!" Liza's heart leapt in joy and she practically ran down the stairs, being sure not to jostle Boots too much.

Standing in her living room was Ron Weasley, grinning widely, along with his father. Liza bolted forward and threw her arms around Ron's neck, hugging him wildly. Ron didn't quite know how to respond, so he merely put his arms around her and squeezed her back. Liza pulled away after a moment, smiling as well.

"All right?" Ron asked.

"I'm good," Liza replied. "And you?"

"Doing well," Ron answered. The Mr. Weasley stepped forward and Liza gave him a hug as well; Mr. Weasley was like a second father to her.

"Well, now," Mr. Weasley said, "you're parents tell me that you've got everything packed a ready to go. Molly's got dinner cooking as we speak for when we get back. I don't want to rush you, but we should probably be leaving soon. You and Ron will be leaving by Floo, and I'll Disapparate. It'd probably be best if I took your cat for you," he finished, eying the cat carrier that Liza had left on the couch. "Animals don't usually respond well to Floo travel," he added in explanation.

"That's fine," Liza said. "I'm sure she's already mad at me for putting her in the carrier in the first place." The she turned to her parents.

"Now, you be a good girl," Sue said, her voice wobbling slightly. "Do what the Weasleys tell you to. Write to us. And have a good time back at school." Liza went to her mother and hugged her tightly.

"Don't worry, Mom," she murmured. "I'll be good." Sue pulled away and gave her daughter a watery smile. Then Liza moved over and hugged Dan. Then she went to the fireplace and showed Ron where the Floo powder was. Ron took a handful and threw it into the fireplace. The flames became green immediately. Mr. Weasley stood Liza's trunk on its side in the flames..

"Goodbye, Mr. and Mrs. Jones," Ron said, waving at them. Then he stepped in next to the trunk, grabbed hold of it, and shouted, "The Burrow!" With a _whoosh_, he was gone. Liza picked up the cat carrier and handed it to Mr. Weasley. Then she took her own handful and threw it into the fireplace. She turned and waved back at her parents.

"Bye Mom, Dad," she said. "I love you!" Dan moved to stand next to his wife, putting an arm around her shoulders.

"Goodbye, munchkin," Dan said. "Be safe!"

"I will," Liza promised. Then she stepped into the flames and said firmly, "The Burrow." Then she was flying through the Floo network, watching other fireplaces whip by. She kept her elbows tucked into her sides. After a while, the other fireplaces began to slow down until she was being deposited onto the floor at the Burrow. She looked up to see the friendly faces of five other Weasleys.

"Liza!" Ginny, Ron's younger sister, cried happily, bouncing on the balls of her feet. She was a year younger than Ron and Liza, and she was going to be a first year at Hogwarts that year. George and Fred, the infamous Weasley twins, darted forward to help Liza up off the floor. They were two years ahead of Liza and Ron in school; they would be starting their fourth year in September. As soon as Liza was on her feet, George swooped her up in a hug.

"We missed you, Little E!" he practically shouted in her ear, calling her by the nickname he and Fred had given her the following year. George had barely set her down when Fred picked her up and swung her around as well.

"Hi, Fred, George," Liza laughed breathlessly. "I missed you guys too." Then she pulled Ginny into a hug. Even though they had only met a year ago, Liza still felt like Ginny was her younger sister. The last Weasley to come forward was Mrs. Weasley, beaming at Liza warmly.

"Liza, dear," she said, pulling Liza into a hug as well. "You look very well. I hope you're ready for a wonderful birthday dinner!"

"I am so ready for a birthday dinner," Liza replied, smiling at the woman. "It's sounds wonderful. Thank you, Mrs. Weasley."

"Oh, it's no trouble at all," Mrs. Weasley said, although the look of pride on her face was unmistakable. "It'll be a little while yet. Why don't you get your things to Ginny's room and get settled a bit?" Liza nodded and turned to the other Weasleys. Fred and George immediately volunteered to heft the trunk up to Ginny's room. Just as they were about to go up the stairs, the door in the kitchen swung open.

"Liza!" Mr. Weasley called, having just Apparated home. "I have a cat here for you!" Liza turned and hurried into the kitchen.

"Thank you, Mr. Weasley," Liza said gratefully. She quickly opened the carrier and pulled the concerned looking cat from it. Boots looked at Liza in recognition and rubbed her face against Liza's neck. Then Liza turned and hurried up to Ginny's room to find the others.

"So how has the summer been?" Liza asked as soon as she rejoined the other Weasleys. She let Boots hop down from her arms, and she immediately went to sniffing the new surroundings.

"It's been alright," George answered, lounging on the cot that Liza would be sleeping on. "Pretty much the same as every other summer. Hot and slightly boring."

"I wrote to Harry asking if he wanted to come stay, too," Ron told Liza. "I haven't heard from him all summer though. I hope those Muggles are treating him alright."

"I haven't heard from him, either," Liza said, frowning. Then she noticed the look on Ginny's face when she heard them talking about Harry. It was a sort of dreamy face, like she was lost in thoughts far away from them. Liza snapped her fingers in front of Ginny's face, who jumped slightly.

"Sorry," she said immediately. "Dazed off a bit there." Ron snorted.

"Ginny has a crush on Harry," he explained to Liza. Ginny swiped at Ron, who barely ducked out of the way. Ginny's cheeks were burning bright red.

"I do _not_ have a crush on Harry!" she squealed in a slightly higher voice than normal. Liza saw Fred and George exchange wicked smirks.

"Don't feel bad, Ginny," Fred said. "We all have slight crushes on Harry. Right, George?"

"Right, Fred," George picked up. "He's so absolutely dreamy. And he's a hero! And famous!"

"Oh so famous!" Fred continued in a falsetto. "And he is so good looking!"

"Okay, you guys, lay off," Liza said, cutting them off. Ron was laughing uncontrollably, and Fred and George were grinning in success. Liza flicked George's ear.

"Ow, Liza," he cried out in mock pain. "Please, don't hurt me! I won't ever say it again, I swear!" Liza couldn't help but giggle at this one, and even Ginny cracked a smile.

"Kids!" Mrs. Weasley called from the kitchen. "Dinner's ready! Wash up and then come down here please!" Liza grinned and followed the other Weasley children to wash up and then to the kitchen. Mrs. Weasley had laid out quite the feast for them, including a marvelous birthday cake. It was one of Liza's best birthdays ever.

**~LJ:SP~**


	2. Chapter 2 Saving Harry

_**A/N: Again, this all used to be part of the first chapter. As it was getting to be close to 6,000 words, I decided it'd probably be best to split it up. This chapter is still 2 times longer than chapter 1 though. What a long first chapter that would've been!**_

_**Harry Potter is not mine.**_

**Chapter 2 – Saving Harry**

The next three days past in a blur.

In the mornings, she spent a lot of time with Ginny and helping Mrs. Weasley with things around the house. Liza felt that it was the least she could do, since the Weasleys were letting her stay at the Burrow for the remainder of the summer. In the afternoon, she joined Ron, Fred, and George in Quidditch games.

There was still no word from Harry, however. Liza and Ron were very concerned about it, especially after Mr. Weasley came home one night from work. He informed them that Harry had been sent an official warning from the Ministry because he had done magic in front of Muggles.

Liza was just settling down into bed after the third day when Ginny's bedroom door opened slowly. Liza sat up and saw Ron standing in the doorway. He snuck over to Liza's bed, keeping quiet so Ginny wouldn't wake up.

"We're going to go save Harry," he whispered to her. Liza looked at him, bewildered.

"What do you mean, 'we'?" she asked. "What are you talking about?" Ron shook his head and gestured to Ginny's door. Then he quickly but quietly left the room again. Liza hurried after him, taking a sweater with her from the top of her trunk. She exited the room and quietly shut the door behind her.

"Now, what are you going on about?" she asked, pulling the sweater on over her head.

"Fred, George, and I are going to rescue Harry," Ron explained. "He still hasn't answered us. We think that something bad may have happened to him."

"You might be exaggerating a bit, Ron," Liza replied. "I'm sure he's just fine. Dumbledore wouldn't let him go back to those Muggles if he was in some sort of danger." Ron shrugged. "And how, exactly, do you plan on saving him? Do you know where he lives?" Liza continued. "Do you just plan on flying there?" Ron grinned.

"Sort of," he replied. "C'mon, I'll show you. We have to get going anyway, if we're going to get back before morning."

"Before morning?" Liza asked in disbelief. Ron sighed, grabbed her wrist, and pulled her down the stairs. He led her outside the house and over to the shed where Mr. Weasley kept a lot of his Muggle stuff; he had a strange fascination with Muggles.

"Ta-da!" Ron announced as he opened the door. Inside was a beat up Muggle car. Fred and George were sitting in the front seat; Fred was at the wheel and George was next to him.

"Hop in, guys," Fred said, waving them to the car. "If we're going to go we need to go. We have to get to Little Whinging and back before Mum gets up."

"We're going to _drive_ to Little Whinging?" Liza asked, looking skeptical. "Are we going to be able to get there and back before morning?"

"Just get in, Liza," Ron said impatiently. "You'll see what we're going to do." Liza sighed and rolled her eyes but skirted quickly around the car and got into the back behind Fred.

"Your guys' cars are weird over here," Liza commented as Fred turned the key in the ignition.

"How do you mean?" George asked. Fred put the car in gear and drove it out of the shed and onto the grass.

"The wheel is on the right side of the car is what I mean," Liza replied, motioning in Fred's general direction. The boys all laughed at her.

"You are _such_ an American sometimes," George explained.

"Ready, everyone?" Fred asked from behind the wheel. "Hold on tight!" He pushed a button on the dashboard and suddenly, to Liza's surprise, the car began to rise into the air. Before she knew it, they were zooming through the night sky, high above the ground.

"Well, you guys definitely got me," she admitted. "I did _not_ see that coming."

"I told you we'd find a way," Ron replied, smiling. They rode mostly in silence for the rest of the ride with Fred and George determining the greatest route to take. It wasn't too long before they were flying over rows of Muggle houses.

"Aren't you worried that the Muggles might see us?" Liza piped up anxiously from the back seat. The twins shook their heads at the same time.

"It's so late, we're betting on most of them being asleep," George explained. "Down there, Fred!" he said suddenly, pointing to a house.

"How do you know-?" Liza started but Ron just said, "Don't worry about it, Liza." They dipped down low and came to a halt in mid-air in front of a window with bars on it. Ron leaned out his open window to peer into the room.

"Yes!" he breathed. "Harry!"

"Oh, my God, he has _bars_ on his window?" Liza gasped in horror. She craned her neck to see into the room from over Ron's shoulder. Then, as though he could sense their presence, Harry jerked up from his bed. He stared back at them for a moment before scrambling over to the window and opening it from the inside.

"Ron, Liza, how did you—What the-?" Harry gasped, noticing that they were sitting in a flying car. His mouth flopped open, not knowing what to say about the sudden appearance of a flying car carrying his two best friends and two of Ron's brothers.

"All right, Harry?" George asked.

"What's been going on?" Ron demanded. "Why haven't you been answering our letters? I've asked you to stay about twelve times, and then Dad came home and said you'd got an official warning for using magic in front of Muggles!"

"It wasn't me," Harry quickly denied. "And how did he know?"

"He works for the Ministry," Ron reminded him.

"You _know_ we're not supposed to do spells outside school," Liza added.

"You should talk," Harry shot back, gesturing at the car.

"Oh, this doesn't count," Ron said. "We're only borrowing this. It's Dad's, _we_ didn't enchant it. But doing magic in front of those Muggles you live with…"

"I told you, I didn't—but it'll take too long to explain now," Harry said. "Look, can you tell them at Hogwarts that the Dursleys have locked me up and won't let me come back, and obviously I can't magic myself out, because the Ministry'll think that's the second spell I've done in three days, so-!"

"Harry, stop!" Liza interrupted him. "Do you really think we'd come all this way to just leave you here?"

"We've come to take you home with us," Ron finished, smiling gleefully.

"But," Harry said, looking confused, "you can't magic me out either…"

"We don't need to," Ron replied patiently. He nodded towards the twins in the front seat. "You forget who I've got with me." Fred tossed one end of a rope to Harry.

"Tie that around the bars," he instructed. Harry complied, warning them, "If the Dursleys wake up, I'm dead."

"Don't worry," Fred said, revving the engine a bit, "and stand back." Harry immediately retreated to the other side of his room. Liza and Ron pulled themselves back into the car. Fred inched the car farther and farther up, away from the window, until the rope became taut. Then, with a grinding noise, the bars pulled free from the window. Ron began reeling in the rope, and Liza saw Harry's face appear in his window. When the bars were finally up in the car, Liza took them from Ron and put them on the floor behind Fred's seat. Then Fred pulled up to the window again.

"Get in," Ron said.

"But all my Hogwarts stuff," Harry said in protest, "my wand… my broomstick…"

"Where is it?" George asked from the front seat.

"Locked in the cupboard under the stairs, and I can't get out of this room," Harry explained.

"No problem," George said, cutting him off. "Out of the way, Harry." Fred put the car in park, and the twins crawled into Harry's room through the window. George pulled a hairpin out of his pocket and picked the lock on Harry's door.

"A lot of wizards think it's a waste of time, knowing this sort of Muggle trick," Fred commented as George worked, "but we feel they're skills worth learning, even if they are a bit slow." As he finished talking, George opened the bedroom door.

"So—we'll get your trunk," George whispered. "You grab anything you need from your room and hand it out to Ron and Liza." He and Fred started for the stairs.

"Watch out for the bottom stair—it creaks," Harry murmured after them. Then he started going around his room, removing the few things that he had and handing them to Ron out in the car. When he had gathered everything, he hurried back to help Fred and George with his school trunk. Ron and Liza waited anxiously for them to get back.

Once safely in Harry's room, Fred dashed back to the car, jumping into the front seat. He reversed the car and popped the trunk so Harry and George could load Harry's trunk into the back. After they loaded it up, George shut the trunk and Fred realigned the car with the window so George and Harry could get in.

"Okay, let's go," George said in a low voice, crawling out the window and into the front seat next to his brother. Harry went to follow him when Liza looked around the inside of his room once more.

"Harry-!" she started but she was cut off by a loud screech from inside the room.

"THAT RUDDY OWL!" a voice thundered from somewhere else in the house.

"I've forgotten Hedwig!" Harry cried out. He jumped off the windowsill and back into the room, running straight for his owl. He grabbed the cage and passed it out to Ron in the car.

"C'mon, Harry, hurry!" Liza cried as the bedroom door crashed open. The man from the train station earlier that summer was standing in the doorway, looking furious. He let out a cry of rage and lunged for Harry, grabbing hold of his ankle.

"Grab him!" George commanded, immediately grabbing Harry's arm. Liza and Ron both seized Harry and pulled him hard towards the car.

"Petunia!" the large man was screaming. "He's getting away! HE'S GETTING AWAY!" _Well, this ought to wake the neighbors_, Liza thought sourly. She, Ron, and George gave a massive tug on Harry's arms, and he was suddenly toppling into the backseat next to Ron.

"Put your foot down, Fred!" Ron shouted as he and Liza helped Harry right himself in the car and Ron slammed the door shut. The car streaked into the air, away from the house where Harry's family stood in the window.

Harry leaned his head out of the open window and shouted, "See you next summer!" The rest of the car's occupants let out loud, giddy laughs. Harry eased back into his seat, his shoulders jammed between Ron's and Liza's.

"Let Hedwig out," he said to Ron. "She can fly behind us. She hasn't had a chance to stretch her wings for ages." George passed the hairpin to the backseat and soon Hedwig was let out of her cage. She immediately took to the sky outside the car window.

"So—what's the story, Harry?" Ron asked immediately as the excitement died down a bit. "What's been happening?"

"Why did you get an official notice from the Ministry?" Liza added. Harry launched into his story, telling them of a house-elf named Dobby showing up and warning him to not go back to Hogwarts that year. Then he told them that the house-elf was the one who use the magic, not Harry, to crash a large bowl of pudding in his aunt and uncle's house. When he was finished with his story, nobody knew what to say.

"Very fishy," Fred finally spoke up.

"Definitely dodgy," George agreed, nodding. "So he wouldn't even tell you who's supposed to be plotting all this stuff?"

"I don't think he could," Harry replied. "I told you, every time he got close to letting something slip, he started banging his head against the wall." Fred and George exchanged glances in the front seat. "What, you think he was lying to me?" Harry asked.

"Well," Fred started slowly, "put it this way—house-elves have got powerful magic of their own, but they can't usually use it without their master's permission. I reckon old Dobby was sent to stop you coming back to Hogwarts. Someone's idea of a joke. Can you think of anyone at school with a grudge against you?"

"Yes," Harry and Ron both said immediately, while Liza groaned.

"Draco Malfoy," Harry continued. "He hates me."

"He hates all Gryffindors and anyone who thinks differently than him," Liza added, scowling.

"Draco Malfoy?" George asked, turning in his seat to look at the three in the back. "Not Lucius Malfoy's son?"

"Must be, it's not a very common name, is it?" Harry replied. "Why?"

"I've heard Dad talking about him," George said. "He was a big supporter of You-Know-Who."

"And when You-Know-Who disappeared," Fred said, also turning to look at Harry, "Lucius Malfoy came back saying he'd never meant any of it. Load of dung—Dad reckons he was right in You-Know-Who's inner circle." Liza nodded; Ron had told them something similar the year before.

"I don't know whether the Malfoys own a house-elf," Harry muttered.

"Well, whoever owns him will be an old wizarding family, and they'll be rich," Fred explained.

"Yeah, Mum's always wishing we had a house-elf to do the ironing," George said. "But all we've got is a lousy old ghoul in the attic and gnomes all over the garden. House-elves come with big old manors and castles and places like that; you wouldn't catch on in our house…" There was silence for a moment while they all thought about the last conversation.

"I'm glad we came to get you, anyway," Ron said. "Liza and I were getting really worried when you didn't answer any of our letters. I thought it was Errol's fault at first."

"Who's Errol?" Harry asked.

"Our owl. He's ancient," Ron complained. "It wouldn't be the first time he'd collapsed on a delivery. So then I tried to borrow Hermes."

"_Who_?" Harry asked again.

"The owl Mum and Dad bought Percy when he was made prefect," Fred explained from up front.

"But Percy wouldn't lend him to me," Ron said. "Said he needed him."

"Are you surprised?" Liza asked. "He's pretty much been locked up in his room since I've been here."

"Percy's been acting very oddly this summer," George said. "And he _has_ been sending a lot of letters and spending a load of time shut up in his room, not only since you've been here, Liza… I mean, there's only so many times you can polish a prefect badge… You're driving too far west, Fred," he pointed out, gesturing to the compass on the dashboard of the car. Fred turned the wheel slightly, putting them back on course.

"So, does your dad know you've got the car?" Harry asked.

"Er, no," Ron replied, "he had to work tonight. Hopefully we'll be able to get it back in the garage without Mum noticing we flew it."

"What does your dad do at the Ministry of Magic, anyway?" Harry asked, sounding very interested.

"He works in the most boring department," Ron answered. "The Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office."

"The _what_?"

"It's all to do with bewitching things that are Muggle-made, you know, in case they end up back in a Muggle shop or house," Ron said. "Like, last year, some old witch died and her tea set was sold to an antiques shop. This Muggle woman bought it, took it home, and tried to serve her friends tea in it. It was a nightmare—Dad was working overtime for weeks."

"What happened?" Liza asked, intrigued herself.

"The teapot went berserk and squirted boiling tea all over the place," Ron continued, chuckling slightly, "and one man ended up in the hospital with the sugar tongs clamped to his nose. Dad was going frantic—it's only him and an old warlock called Perkins in the office—and they had to do Memory Charms and all sorts of stuff to cover it up."

"But your dad," Harry stammered, looking baffled, "this car…" Fred laughed from the front seat.

"Yeah, Dad's crazy about everything to do with Muggles," he explained, "our shed's full of Muggle stuff. He take it apart, puts spells on it, and puts it back together again. If he raided _our_ hours he'd have to put himself under arrest. It drives Mum mad."

"That's the main road," George announced suddenly, looking closely out the windshield. "We'll be there in ten minutes… Just as well, it's getting light." Fred began to bring the car lower to the ground. "We're a little way outside the village," George continued, this time for Harry's benefit. "Ottery St. Catchpole." The sun was just starting to rise as Fred brought the car even lower.

"Touchdown!" he announced a few moments later. They hit the ground, jostling a little bit. They landed back where the car had been stored the previous night.

"It's not much," Ron said, watching Harry stare up at the Burrow.

"It's _wonderful_," Harry replied, grinning from ear to ear. The five piled quickly out of the car.

"Now, we'll go upstairs really quietly," Fred started, taking the lead, "and wait for Mum to call us for breakfast. Then, Ron, you come bounding downstairs going, 'Mum, look who turned up in the night!' and she'll be all pleased to see Harry and no one need ever know we flew the car."

"Do you really think that's going to work?" Liza asked skeptically.

"I don't know, but it's worth a shot," Fred answered.

"Right," Ron said. "Come on, Harry, I sleep at the—at the top…" Ron trailed off, looking like he was about to be sick. The other four turned to see what he was looking at.

"_Ah_," Fred said as his eyes landed on his very angry mother striding towards them.

"Oh, dear," George added. Mrs. Weasley stopped in front of them and put her hands on her hips, looking at all of them in turn.

"So," was all she said. Her tone warned them of exactly how angry she was.

"Morning, Mum," George said in a cheerful voice.

"Have you any idea how worried I've been?" Mrs. Weasley hissed at them.

"Sorry, Mum, but see, we had to…" Fred started, but Mrs. Weasley didn't let him finished.

"_Beds empty! No note! Car gone—could have crashed—out of my mind with worry—did you care?—never, as long as I've lived—you wait until your father gets home, we never had trouble like this from Bill or Charlie or Percy-!_"

"Perfect Percy," Fred glowered, which was the exact wrong thing to say, as it made Mrs. Weasley scream even louder.

"YOU COULD DO WITH TAKING A LEAF OUT OF PERCY'S BOOK!" she shouted, poking Fred forcefully in his chest. "You could have _died_, you could have been _seen_, you could have lost your father his _job_-!" And she continued to scream at her sons for what seemed like an eternity. Finally she turned to Harry, who took a step back.

"I'm very pleased to see you, Harry, dear," she said in a warm voice. "Come in and have some breakfast." Without another word, she turned and strutted back to the house. Harry looked around at the Weasleys and Liza in bewilderment. Ron nodded encouragingly, so Harry hesitantly followed Mrs. Weasley into the house.

When they entered the kitchen, Mrs. Weasley was bustling around fixing breakfast. She seemed a bit distracted, and she would throw glares at her sons every once in a while.

"Mrs. Weasley, would you like some help?" Liza volunteered after a few minutes of this. Mrs. Weasley turned, giving Liza a calculated look, then sighed.

"No, it's alright, Liza, dear," she said. "You just sit down. I could use some help afterwards cleaning up, though." Liza nodded, relieved that Mrs. Weasley wasn't angry with her.

"I don't blame _you_, dear," Mrs. Weasley said to Harry as she began filling his plate for him. "Arthur and I have been worried about you, too. Just last night we were saying we'd come and get you ourselves if you hadn't written back to Ron or Liza by Friday. But really, flying an illegal care halfway across the country—anyone could have seen you." With a wave of her wand, the dirty dishes in the sink began to clean themselves. Ron, Fred, and George took this as their cue to start eating breakfast themselves. Liza joined in hesitantly.

"It was _cloudy_, Mum!" Fred insisted.

"You keep your mouth closed while you're eating!" Mrs. Weasley growled at him, brandishing her wand at him.

"They were starving him, Mum!" George added.

"And you!" Mrs. Weasley said. She continued to prepare Harry's breakfast, and her expression had lost a lot of its anger at this last mention from George. All of a sudden there was a squeal from the entrance of the kitchen, and Liza looked up in time to see Ginny dashing out of sight again.

"Ginny," Ron murmured to Harry. "My sister. She's been talking about you all summer."

"Yeah, she'll be wanting your autograph, Harry," Fred added, grinning. His mother glared at him and Liza whacked him on the arm.

"Be nice to your sister," she scolded. Fred scowled at Liza but bent back over his breakfast. There was silence except for the scraping of silverware over plates while they all finished eating.

"_Blimey_, I'm tired," Fred finally broke the silence. He let his silverware drop onto his plate with a clatter. "I think I'll go to bed and," but he was cut off quickly by Mrs. Weasley.

"You will not," she exclaimed. "It's your own fault you've been up all night. You're going to de-gnome the garden for me; they're getting completely out of hand again."

"Oh, Mum," Fred moaned.

"And you two," Mrs. Weasley finished, turning on her other two sons. "Liza, if you could help me in the kitchen cleaning up this mess?" Liza nodded, understanding what Mrs. Weasley meant; she wasn't angry with Liza, but she will still somewhat punishing her by not letting her go back to bed. "You can go up to bed, dear," Mrs. Weasley said to Harry in a kind voice. "You didn't ask them to fly that wretched car."

"I'll help Ron," Harry replied quickly and eagerly. "I've never seen a de-gnoming…"

"That's very sweet of you, dear, but it's dull work," Mrs. Weasley said. "Now, let's see what Lockhart's got to say on the subject…" She went to the mantelpiece above the fireplace and plucked a large book from atop it. George could help the groan that escaped him.

"Mum, we know how to de-gnome a garden," he insisted. Mrs. Weasley was watching the cover of the book where a picture of the author was beaming up at her.

"Oh, he is marvelous," Mrs. Weasley said. "He knows his household pests, all right, it's a wonderful book…"

"Mum _fancies_ him," Fred whispered quite loudly.

"Don't be so ridiculous, Fred," Mrs. Weasley said, although her face was tinged pink. "All right, if you think you know better than Lockhart, you can go and get on with it, and woe betide you if there's a single gnome in that garden when I come out to inspect it." Her sons turned and left the kitchen, mumbling in annoyance while Harry followed them. Liza jumped up and stretched before beginning to clear the dishes from the table.

"I don't mean to punish you, Liza, dear," Mrs. Weasley began suddenly. "I'm sure it wasn't your idea to take that car to save Harry. But you did leave in the middle of the night, and it gave me such a fright when I noticed the four of you were missing."

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Weasley," Liza apologized. "Nothing like that will ever happen again, I promise." She had a strange feeling of guilt in her gut; she had helped steal Mr. Weasley's car and had scared Mrs. Weasley, after they had the decency to allow her into their house. Liza made doubly sure to clean the dishes well.

She was just finishing up when Ginny slowly stepped into the kitchen. She had change out of her nightgown and into regular clothing.

"Is Harry really here?" she asked Liza. "I wasn't just imagining it, was I?"

"Harry is really here," Liza replied, nodding her head and she dried off the last plate and put it in its respectful cupboard.

"How did he get here?" Ginny asked, her voice getting high. "_When_ did he get here?"

"He got here this morning," Liza answered. The girls were interrupted by the front door opening and slamming shut. "I'll explain later," Liza added to Ginny as Mr. Weasley walked heavily into the kitchen. He plopped down onto a chair. "Would you like some tea, Mr. Weasley?" Liza asked, pulling a mug from one of the cupboards.

"Yes, Liza, that would be wonderful," he sighed. "Good morning, girls. Sleep well?" The girls didn't have the chance to answer him because the boys chose that moment to hurry in from the garden. Ginny disappeared immediately, apparently not wanting to be in the same room at the same time as Harry.

"How are you doing, Mr. Weasley?" Liza asked politely, setting a full mug of tea and the teapot in front of him.

"What a night," he started as the boys settled down in the chairs around the table. He reached forward and grabbed the mug Liza had set before him. "Nine raids. Nine! And old Mundungus Fletcher tried to put a hex on me when I had my back turned…" Mr. Weasley took a nice, long swig of his tea, sighing his approval.

"Find anything, Dad?" Fred piped up.

"All I got were a few shrinking door keys and a biting kettle," Mr. Weasley replied, trying and failing to suppress a yawn. "There was some pretty nasty stuff that wasn't my department, though. Mortlake was taken away for questioning about some extremely odd ferrets, but that's the Committee on Experimental Charms, thank goodness…"

"Why would anyone bother making door keys shrink?" George asked.

"Just Muggle-baiting," Mr. Weasley explain heavily. "Sell them a key that keep shrinking to nothing so they can never find it when they need it." He took another drink from his mug. "Of course, it's very hard to convict anyone because no Muggle would admit their key keeps shrinking—they'll insister they just keep losing it. Bless them, they'll go any lengths to ignore magic, even if it's staring them in the face." Another drink. "But the things our lot have taken to enchanting, you wouldn't believe."

"LIKE CARS, FOR INSTANCE?" Mrs. Weasley had returned to the kitchen. Mr. Weasley started in his seat then gave his wife a guilty look.

"C-cars, Molly, dear?" he stammered.

"Yes, Arthur, cars," Mrs. Weasley repeated. "Imagine a wizard buying a rusty old car and telling his wife all he wanted to do with it was take it apart to see how it worked, while _really_ he was enchanting it to make it _fly_." _Busted_, Liza thought.

"Well, dear," Mr. Weasley started, "I think you'll find that he would be quite within the law to do that, even if—er—he maybe would have done better to, um, tell his wife the truth… There's a loophole in the law, you'll find… As long as he wasn't _intending_ to fly the car, the fact that the car _could_ fly wouldn't—," and Mrs. Weasley interrupted him.

"Arthur Weasley, you made sure there was a loophole when you wrote that law!" she snapped. Liza's eyes widened; so they had broken the law, after all. "Just so you could carry on tinkering with all that Muggle rubbish in your shed!" Mrs. Weasley continued. "And for your information, Harry arrived this morning in the car you weren't intending to fly!"

"Harry?" Mr. Weasley repeated, looking confused. "Harry who?" He looked around at Harry, who was sitting at the table next to Ron. Mr. Weasley jumped. "Good lord, is it Harry Potter? Very pleased to meet you, Ron's told us so much about-," and he was cut off once more.

"_Your sons flew that car to Harry's house and back last night_!" Mrs. Weasley screamed. "What have you got to say about that, eh?"

"Did you really?" Mr. Weasley said, seeming to completely forget that his wife was angry with him. "Did it go all right? I—I mean," he quickly backtracked after seeing the look on Mrs. Weasley's face, "that—that was very wrong, boys—very wrong indeed…" Ron and Harry stood from the table and slipped from the room. Ron's eyes met Liza's and he jerked his head towards the stairs. Liza took this as her cue to leave the kitchen as Mrs. Weasley rose her voice to her husband once more.

Liza followed the boys through the house and up the stairs. The door to Ginny's room shut quickly as they passed by her room.

"Ginny," Ron explained to Harry. "You don't know how weird it is for her to be this shy. She never shuts up normally."

"Just like a certain brother of hers?" Liza shot back, grinning. Harry chuckled at this and Ron muttered, "Shut up." They trooped up the stairs till they reached the door that said Ron's name on it. They all filed in and Harry looked around, his face full of interest.

"Your Quidditch team?" he asked, motioning to a few of the posters Ron had pinned to the walls of his room.

"The Chudley Cannons," Ron replied proudly. He pointed out his bedspread, which also sported the team's colors. "Ninth in the league." Harry stepped into the room a bit more, still looking around, before turning back to look at Ron and Liza.

"It's a bit small," Ron started. "Not like that room you had with the Muggles. And I'm right underneath the ghoul in the attic; he's always banging on the pipes and groaning…" Harry shook his head, a smile on his face.

"This is the best house I've ever been in," he stated. Ron flushed pink, but Liza knew he was pleased.

"Well, I'll leave you two to it," she said. "I'm going to go find Ginny." And as she exited the bedroom, she grinned happily. Two of her best friends were here; the only person she was missing was Hermione, and then it would have been perfect.

**~LJ:SP~**


	3. Chapter 3 Diagon Alley

_**A/N: Here's chapter 3! The trip to Diagon Alley, and the meeting of Gilderoy Lockhart. Yay!**_

**Chapter 3 – Diagon Alley**

A week after they had brought Harry to the Burrow, the kids' Hogwarts letters arrived. It was a bright morning, and Liza and Ginny were sitting in the kitchen with Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. Harry and Ron appeared at the bottom of the stairs, which prompted Ginny to accidently drop her bowl to the ground. She dove after it, and when she righted herself, her face was flushed pink.

"Letters from school," Mr. Weasley said as the boys sat down. He passed two of the letters down to them. "Dumbledore already knows you're here, Harry—doesn't miss a trick, that man. You two've got them, too," he finished when Fred and George stumbled into the kitchen, yawning and still in their night clothes. The boys all tore into their letters to find their book lists.

"You've been told to get all of Lockhart's books, too!" Fred exclaimed, looking at Harry's list. "The new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher must be a fan—bet it's a witch."

"That lot won't come cheap," George added, glancing to his parents. "Lockhart's books are really expensive…"

"Well, we'll manage," Mrs. Weasley said firmly, although her face was not as certain as her tone. "I expect we'll be able to pick up a lot of Ginny's things secondhand."

"Oh, are you starting at Hogwarts this year?" Harry asked Ginny, sounding genuinely curious. Ginny nodded, blushing immediately as Harry addressed her.

"Morning, all," Percy called, breezing into the kitchen fully dressed and wearing his prefect badge. "Lovely day." He sat down at the finally empty chair, only to jump up from it quickly. He plucked up the thing that he'd sat on.

"Errol!" Ron exclaimed. Percy handed over the owl and Ron pulled the letter that was wedge under Errol's wing. "_Finally_—he's got Hermione's answer. I wrote to her saying we were going to try and rescue you from the Dursleys."

"You did?" Liza asked in surprise. Ron shrugged and nodded at the same time. He took Errol over to a perch by the door and set him onto it, but the bird immediately fell over. Ron laid him down on a countertop nearby.

"Pathetic," he muttered as he tore open the letter from Hermione. He read it aloud.

"'_Dear Ron, Liza, and Harry if you're there,_

"'_I hope everything went all right and that Harry is okay and that you didn't do anything illegal to get him out, Ron, because that would get Harry into trouble, too._'"

"Oh, right, don't worry about me," Liza grumbled, folding her arms over her chest.

"'_I've been really worried and if Harry is all right, will you please let me know at once, but perhaps it would be better if you used a different owl, because I think another delivery might finish your one off._

"'_I'm very busy with schoolwork, of course_'—How _can_ she be?" Ron interrupted himself. "We're on vacation!—'_and we're going to London next Wednesday to buy my new books. Why don't we meet in Diagon Alley?_

"'_Let me know what's happening as soon as you can. Love from Hermione_.'"

"Well, that fits in nicely, we can go and get all your things then, too," Mrs. Weasley said. She stood and started to take empty plates away. "What're you all up to today?"

"Playing Quidditch out at the paddock," George replied, yawning.

"Let me guess," Liza spoke up, "no girls allowed?" The boys exchanged guilty looks with one another. "You know that Ginny and I can outride any of you," Liza added with a scowl. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Ginny blush furiously.

"Ginny wouldn't be able to fly if Harry was out there, too," Ron sniggered meanly. Liza thumped him on the head.

"Be nice to your sister," she scolded. "C'mon, Ginny, let's go." She rose and stomped out of the kitchen, with Ginny hot on her heels.

"It's okay, Liza," Ginny said when the girls had reached Ginny's bedroom. "They're boys. Besides, Ron's right," she continued, her cheeks reddening, "I don't think I could fly in front of Harry." Liza gave her friend a calculating look.

"I know that you like Harry," she said. "But you have to be yourself around him. Otherwise he'll never get to know you for who you are." Ginny looked down in shame.

"I know," she murmured. "But—but I like him. And I don't want to do anything to embarrass myself in front of him. Which, in turn, is making me embarrass myself in front of him." She held up her arm, pointing to her elbow. "I put my elbow in the butter dish this morning. And all he did was ask me if I was starting at Hogwarts this year."

"Well, give it some time," Liza said encouragingly. "If things are meant to work out, then they will. And think about it! He's only twelve, and you're almost eleven… Still plenty of time to make decisions." She grinned at Ginny reassuringly.

"I suppose you're right," Ginny replied.

**~LJ:SP~**

The following Wednesday, Liza and Ginny were awoken by Mrs. Weasley.

"I know it's a little early, girls," she began apologetically, "but I really need some help with breakfast this morning." Liza and Ginny immediately rose. "Make sure to wear your robes," Mrs. Weasley added as she left the room. "We're going to Diagon Alley after breakfast." The girls hurriedly pulled their robes on over their regular clothes and went to the kitchen to help Mrs. Weasley prepare breakfast.

"Oh, thank you, girls," Mrs. Weasley said as they arrived. "There's just so much to get done before we go to Diagon Alley. Liza, if you could set the table please? And Ginny, watch over the bacon." Ginny took her place in front of the stove and Liza began pulling dishes out of the cupboards. "I'm going to go wake up the boys," Mrs. Weasley announced as she bustled out of the kitchen.

"Good morning, Ginny," Liza finally said through a yawn. "Are you excited to get your wand and stuff? I remember last year, I was beyond excited to get my school things."

"I suppose I am," Ginny replied. "More so for the wand than anything else." Liza giggled. Mr. Weasley sauntered into the kitchen then and sat down in one of the chairs.

"Tea, Mr. Weasley?" Liza asked immediately, smiling at him.

"Yes, please," Mr. Weasley replied gratefully. "Good morning girls."

"Morning, Dad," Ginny said brightly, leaning away from the stove to kiss her father on his balding head. Mrs. Weasley entered again.

"I'll finish the bacon, Ginny, if you can please get the bread out and start making sandwiches," she instructed in a no-nonsense tone. Ginny immediately retrieved the bread and started making the sandwiches her mother wanted. Liza finished making the tea and set it on the table in front of Mr. Weasley. He poured himself a cup into the mug in front of him and took a long swig.

"Liza, you make a wonderful pot of tea," Mr. Weasley commented, and Liza ducked her head in gratitude.

"Thank you, Mr. Weasley," she murmured. Ron and Harry appeared in the kitchen then, followed closely by Percy.

"Good morning, boys," Mr. Weasley said cheerfully.

"Morning, Father," Percy said. "Is there tea? Ah, yes." And he helped himself to a cup of tea. Ron and Harry sat wordlessly at the table, both looking quite sleepy still.

"Where are Fred and George?" Mrs. Weasley mused distractedly, finishing up the last of the bacon strips. Ginny was still furiously making sandwiches. "Ginny, when you're finished, go ahead and let everyone start eating. I'm going to see where those two got to." Ginny nodded as her mother rushed out of the kitchen again.

"Is she always like this when the family is going somewhere?" Liza asked Mr. Weasley, taking a seat at the table.

"Ah, yes," Mr. Weasley answered. "She's very good at getting frantic when we want to be somewhere. I think she's just mostly worried that she'll forget to do something before we leave." Ginny brought a platter full of bacon sandwiches to the table, surprisingly not spilling any, seeing as Harry was sitting in the room. She sat down next to Liza, and they all dug into their breakfast. There was a commotion on the stairs.

"When I tell you to get up, I mean that it's time to get up!" Mrs. Weasley was shouting. "It does not mean that you can choose whether or not to keep sleeping!" Fred and George entered the kitchen, looking slightly guilty, with their mother right behind them. The boys quickly dropped into their chairs and helped themselves to the sandwiches.

When they were finished and the table was cleared, they all gathered in front of the fireplace. Liza suspected that they were going to travel by Floo powder, and when Mrs. Weasley grabbed a flowerpot off the mantel, Liza's suspicions were confirmed.

"We're running low, Arthur," Mrs. Weasley said after checking the pot's contents. "We'll have to buy some more today… Ah, well, guests first! After you, Harry dear!" She held the pot out to him, and he looked extremely confused.

"Wh—what am I supposed to do?" he asked after a few seconds of staring at the pot.

"He's never traveled by Floo powder," Ron spoke up. "Sorry, Harry, I forgot."

"Never?" Mr. Weasley asked, sounding confused himself. "But how did you get to Diagon Alley to buy your school things last year?"

"I went on the Underground," Harry replied.

"Really?" Mr. Weasley was intrigued now. "Were there _escapators_? How exactly-?"

"Not _now_, Arthur," Mrs. Weasley sighed in annoyance. "Floo powder's a lot quicker, dear, but goodness me, if you've never used it before…"

"He'll be all right, Mum," Fred interrupted. "Harry, watch us first." He put his hand into the pot and drew a handful of Floo powder out. When the flames turned green, he stepped inside and shouted, "Diagon Alley!" He was whipped out of sight immediately.

"Here, Liza, go on before me," George murmured quietly while his mother told Harry how it was done.

"You must speak clearly, dear," Mrs. Weasley was saying as Liza grabbed some Floo powder of her own. She threw it into the fire. "And be sure to get out at the right gate…"

"Watch, Harry!" Liza called from the fireplace. "It's a lot easier than they're making it sound. Remember to keep your mouth shut!" Then she stepped into the flames and stated, "Diagon Alley." Then she whooshed away. She was quite used to traveling by Floo powder now; fireplaces whizzed by until she was finally slowing down and being deposited onto the floor of a pub in Diagon Alley. Fred held out his hand and helped her up.

"Welcome to the Leaky Cauldron," Fred said, sweeping his arm around the pub. "This is basically the entrance to Diagon Alley." George appeared as Fred finished talking.

"They're going to scare him to death," he reported. "Kept on giving him advice and whatnot." Liza shrugged.

"I'm sure he'll be fine," she said. Mr. Weasley appeared next.

"Harry should be just after me," he informed them. The four of them stood and waited for what seemed like quite a long time before the next person came out. But it wasn't Harry; it was Ron.

"Where's Harry?" Ron and Liza asked at the same time. They looked in panic at each other.

"Calm down, kids," Mr. Weasley said immediately. "We'll wait for Molly, Ginny, and Percy to come through, and then we can decide what to do from there."

"But Harry could be anywhere!" Liza said, her voice anxious. At that moment, Ginny came stumbling out of the fireplace. She looked up and saw the looks of concern on their faces.

"What happened?" she asked, brushing soot from her robes. She looked around at them again. Percy was next out of the fireplace before they could tell Ginny what had happened. They waited in silence until Mrs. Weasley appeared, bringing up the rear. She took one look at all their faces and did the math.

"Where's Harry?" she asked shrilly. "Did he not come out of the fireplace before Ron?" Liza, Fred, George, and Mr. Weasley shook their heads. "Oh! Oh, that poor boy! What should we do, Arthur?"

"Well, at least he won't be particularly hard to find," Liza reasoned. "After all, he is Harry Potter. Everyone we ask will know for sure if they've seen him." This didn't seem to ease Mrs. Weasley's panic.

"Don't worry, Molly," Mr. Weasley said. "We'll find him. C'mon, boys, Liza. We'll check every shop on the way up to Gringotts." Mrs. Weasley nodded. Mr. Weasley led the group out of the back of the pub into a small alleyway with a brick wall blocking their path. He pulled his wand out and tapped a few bricks. The wall immediately rearranged itself, and an archway appeared in the center. The Weasleys hurried through the barrier and began to check every shop on the way up the alley to see if anyone had seen Harry.

There was still no sign of him after they'd been to nearly every shop.

"Wait!" Ron cried. "Wait, there's Hagrid! And I think I see Harry with him!" Without another word, the Weasleys and Liza shot off towards Gringotts where they could see Hagrid walking towards.

"Harry," Mr. Weasley gasped out when they'd reached them. "We _hoped_ you'd only gone one grate too far…" He pulled out a handkerchief and wiped his forehead with it. "Molly's frantic—she's coming now…"

"Hermione!" Liza said happily, spotting her friend standing next to Harry. Liza crashed into Hermione, pulling her into a tight hug. Hermione laughed breathlessly.

"Nice to see you to, Liza," she said, hugging back.

"Where did you come out?" Ron asked Harry.

"Knockturn Alley," Hagrid answered for him, looking unhappy.

"_Excellent_!" Fred and George exclaimed at the same time.

"We've never been allowed in," Ron explained.

"I should ruddy well think not," Hagrid muttered darkly. Mrs. Weasley caught up to them then, practically dragging Ginny behind her.

"Oh, Harry!" Mrs. Weasley said. "Oh, my dear—you could have been anywhere!" She promptly pulled out a clothes brush from her bag and starting working on Harry. Mr. Weasley tended to Harry's broken glasses.

"Well, gotta be off," Hagrid said as Mrs. Weasley shook his hand and thanked him repeatedly. "See yer at Hogwarts!" They all bid him goodbye as he walked away, parting the crowd easily. The rest turned to climb the steps into the bank.

"Guess who I saw in Borgin and Burkes?" Harry asked them. "Malfoy and his father."

"Did Lucius Malfoy buy anything?" Mr. Weasley asked promptly.

"No, he was selling," Harry answered, looking puzzled and curious.

"So he's worried," Mr. Weasley replied, smirking. "Oh, I'd love to get Lucius Malfoy for something…"

"You be careful, Arthur," Mrs. Weasley cut in, pronouncing each word distinctly. "That family's trouble. Don't go biting off more than you can chew." A goblin at the door bowed low as they entered.

"So you don't think I'm a match for Lucius Malfoy?" Mr. Weasley demanded, looking slightly insulted. But at that moment, Hermione had hurried up to her parents and introduced them, and Mr. Weasley was thoroughly distracted.

"But you're _Muggles_!" Mr. Weasley exclaimed with glee. "We must have a drink! What's that you've got there? Oh, you're changing Muggle money. Molly, look!" He gestured to the paper money in Hermione's father's hand, who was looking slightly bewildered. Liza giggled to herself. Mrs. Weasley began ushering them to the front of the bank.

"Meet you back here," Ron told Hermione as they followed Mrs. Weasley away. A goblin proceeded to lead them to their vaults. Liza's vault had been left to her by her real parents, and her adoptive parents had given her the key a year prior. They had also put some money in, so Liza would be less likely to run out.

Finally they were on their way to the shops. Percy bowed out immediately, hurrying away from them. Fred and George sprinted ahead, trying to catch up with their friend Lee Jordan.

"We'll all meet at Flourish and Blotts in an hour to buy your schoolbooks," Mrs. Weasley said before they could separate fully. "And not one step down Knockturn Alley!" she added sharply as an afterthought, mostly directed at the twins. "Come along, Ginny, we need to get you some robes." Ginny trailed obediently after her mother.

"We must have a drink," Mr. Weasley said to Mr. and Mrs. Granger. "The kids will be fine together. Muggles are absolutely _fascinating_!" And with that, he led them down the alley towards the Leaky Cauldron, the pub at the end of the street.

"So what shall we do first?" Liza asked, stretching her arms above her head.

"Let's get some ice cream," Harry replied. "My treat." So they wandered down the alley until they found the ice cream shop, and Harry bought four strawberry-and-peanut-butter ice creams. They all began to greedily lick their treat.

"Let's keep moving," Hermione suggested. "I need some new parchment and ink." So they ventured onward. Ron froze outside of Quality Quidditch Supplies, gazing transfixed at a set of Chudley Cannon robes in the window.

"Ron!" Hermione said firmly. "I need to get some parchment and ink. C'mon." Liza grabbed hold of Ron's elbow and jerked him away from the store.

After Hermione had bought her things, they continued down the alley. They ran into the twins at the jokes shop, and Percy in a small junk shop, reading a book about Hogwarts prefects.

"Course, he's very ambitious, Percy, he's got it all planned out… He wants to be Minister of Magic," Ron told Harry, Hermione, and Liza as they exited the shop.

**~LJ:SP~**

An hour after they had split, they found their way to Flourish and Blotts to meet up with the rest of the Weasley family. The crowd in and outside the bookshop was very large. A banner was hung from the roof of the bookshop, declaring that Gilderoy Lockhart was going to be signing autographs in the store very soon.

"Isn't that the author your mom likes so much?" Liza asked Ron, eying the crowd. It seemed to be mostly made up of women.

"We can actually meet him!" Hermione exclaimed, smiling widely. "I mean, he's written almost the whole booklist!"

"You know about this guy?" Liza asked.

"Oh, yes," Hermione replied. "He's absolutely wonderful, and his books are such a great read. You should read them sometime, Liza, you really should, you wouldn't believe some of the things he's done…" Ron snorted at this. The four of them approached the door to the shop, where a wizard was trying to calm the crowd storming to get in.

"Calmly, please, ladies," he was begging. "Don't push, there… mind the books, now…" Ron led the way through the door, and the other three followed, squeezing between many excited looking witches. Right up front was where they found _The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2_, which they each grabbed a copy of.

"C'mon, I think I see Mum up there," Ron said, gesturing forward towards the middle of the shop. The hurried single-file to meet with the rest of the Weasleys, who were standing in line with Hermione's parents to get autographs from Gilderoy Lockhart.

"Oh, there you are, good," Mrs. Weasley said when they rejoined the group. She was looking quite as excited as the other witches in the shop. "We'll be able to see him in a minute…" The line moved slowly forward until they could see the desk that the author was sitting at. Around him were copies of _Magical Me_ and portraits of himself. He was beaming at the witches in front of him, basking in their compliments. Another man was floating around him, taking pictures.

"Out of the way, there," this man said as he elbowed his way around Ron. "This is for the _Daily Prophet_…"

"Who cares?" Ron grumbled irritably. Lockhart looked up from the table, and his eyes zeroed in on Harry. He leapt up immediately.

"It _can't_ be Harry Potter?" he exclaimed quite loudly. The crowd tittered excitedly, nodding their approval. Meanwhile, Lockhart shot forward and grabbed Harry by the arm, heaving him up in front of the table. The crowd applauded while Ron and Liza exchanged scowls. The man with the camera bounced around, taking as many pictures as he could. Lockhart muttered something to Harry, but Liza couldn't make out what it was.

Finally Lockhart threw his arm around Harry's shoulder and announce, "Ladies and gentlemen! What an extraordinary moment this is! The perfect moment for me to make a little announcement I've been sitting on for quite some time!" He beamed out at his audience, who were hanging onto his every word.

"When young Harry here stepped into Flourish and Blotts today, he only wanted to buy my autobiography—which I shall be happy to present him now, free of charge," Lockhart added, and the crowd applauded again. Liza rolled her eyes. "He had _no idea_ that he would shortly be getting much, much more than my book, _Magical Me_. He and his schoolmates will, in fact, be getting the real magical me. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I have great pleasure and pride in announcing that this September, I will be taking up the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!" The crowd was absolutely ecstatic, including, to Liza's dismay, Hermione, who was bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet.

"I can't believe it, he's really going to be teaching us at Hogwarts!" she said gleefully. "After all he's done, he should be a great professor, he really ought to be!" Lockhart, meanwhile, was thrusting a complete set of his books into Harry's arms. Then he let Harry go, who stumbled away and over to where Ginny was standing off to the side.

"Guys, c'mon, we don't need an autograph," Liza said, motioning to follow Harry. Hermione looked downcast, but after Ron hissed, "You'll have plenty of time at school to get his autograph!" she followed, too. They pushed and shoved their way over to where Harry and Ginny were standing. When they saw who else was standing with them, Liza let out a loud groan; Draco Malfoy.

"Oh, it's you," Ron sneered. "Bet you're surprised to see Harry here, eh?"

"Not as surprised as I am to see you in a shop, Weasley," Malfoy shot back. "I suppose your family will go hungry for a month to pay for all those." He motioned to the books stashed in Ginny's cauldron; they were the ones that Lockhart had just given Harry. Ron flushed angrily, dropping his books into Ginny's cauldron. Liza and Harry took that as the cue to grab the back of Ron's jacket.

"Ron!" Mr. Weasley was coming through the crowd with the twins. "What are you doing? It's too crowded in here, let's go outside."

"Well, well, well—Arthur Weasley." A tall, thin man approached them, and Liza knew straightaway that this had to be Malfoy's father. He stopped behind his son, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Lucius," Mr. Weasley replied, nodding curtly.

"Busy time at the Ministry, I hear," Mr. Malfoy drawled. "All those extra raids… I hope they're paying you overtime." He plucked a book from inside Ginny's cauldron and held it up between his thumb and index finger. "Obviously not," he sneered. "Dear me, what's the use of being a disgrace to the name of wizard if they don't even pay you well for it?" Liza balled her fists up at her side and glared at the man in front of them.

"We have a very different idea of what disgraces the name of Wizard, Malfoy," he retorted.

"Clearly," Mr. Malfoy said. "The company you keep, Weasley…and I thought your family could sink no lower…" And suddenly, Mr. Weasley was diving at Mr. Malfoy. The noise in the bookstore became an uproar; the Weasley twins were egging their father on, while Mrs. Weasley yelled at him to stop; the shop assistant looked beside himself.

"Break it up, there, gents, break it up," a voice boomed over the noise. It was Hagrid, returning once again to save the day. He had the two men separated immediately.

"Here, girl," Mr. Malfoy snarled, holding out Ginny's book that he still had hold of, "take your book—it's the best your father can give you." He pulled himself out of Hagrid's grip, and motioned to his son to follow.

"Like father, like son, Draco!" Liza screamed after them. "You're all just a bunch of bullies!"

"Liza," Mrs. Weasley admonished softly.

"Sorry, Mrs. Weasley," Liza muttered.

"Yeh should've ignored him, Arthur," Hagrid said to Mr. Weasley, attempting to help fix his robes. "Rotten ter the core, the whole family, everyone knows that—no Malfoy's worth listenin' ter—bad blood, that's what it is—come on now—let's get outta here." The group trooped out of the shop, much to the assistant's relief.

"A _fine_ example to set for your children," Mrs. Weasley began immediately as they walked down the alley. "_Brawling_ in public…_what_ Gilderoy Lockhart must have thought…"

He was pleased," Fred replied, grinning widely. "Didn't you hear him as we were leaving? He was asking that bloke from the _Daily Prophet_ if he'd be able to work the fight into his report—said it was all publicity."

They arrived at the Leaky Cauldron again, this time in silence. They bid farewell to the Grangers, who would be leaving the pub by the front door, returning them to the Muggle world. Liza gave Hermione a long, hard squeeze.

"We'll see you on September first!" she said. "Have a nice rest of the summer."

"You too," Hermione replied, and then she departed with her parents. Liza lined up with the rest of the Weasleys and then took her turn to go back to the Burrow.

"Home, sweet home," George sighed out when they were back. Liza smiled at him brightly, and the family all parted ways to get some rest for the night.

**~LJ:SP~**


	4. Chapter 4 Girls' Night Out

_**A/N: Yeah, I know it's been a while. I've been busy with college and whatnot. I also haven't been very motivated to be writing lately, but hopefully that will change. Maybe.**_

_**Harry Potter is not mine.**_

**Chapter 4 – Girls' Night Out**

The end of summer vacation was upon them. On their last full day at the Burrow, Mrs. Weasley went all out in preparing them nothing short of a feast. She had Liza and Ginny helping her for most of the afternoon, which made Ginny extremely unhappy.

"Ginevra Weasley!" Mrs. Weasley finally shouted. "If you don't get to washing those dishes, you will not get to have any dinner at all!" At this, Ginny stopped whining, although she glowered at her mother behind her back.

The dinner was very appetizing to say the least. Everyone ate until their bellies were bursting. Fred and George let off some Filibuster fireworks that sent shooting stars all around the kitchen. Even Mrs. Weasley didn't have the heart to tell them off from lighting them indoors.

Mrs. Weasley sent them to bed early, insisting that they needed their rest, and that they had to get up early the next morning. Liza was too excited to think about sleeping; however, when she and Ginny trooped upstairs and into their beds, Liza was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. That night, she dreamed of Hogwarts.

The next morning was hectic to say the least. Liza was thankful that she had packed everything in the days before, although it did take her a while to find and coax Boots out of her hiding place under George's bed. She scooped the cat into her arms and took her down into the kitchen.

"Oh, Liza, dear, there you are," Mrs. Weasley said. "Is your truck all packed?"

"Yes, Mrs. Weasley," Liza replied. "Would you like any help with breakfast?"

"That would be most helpful, actually," Mrs. Weasley sighed in relief. "I've just been making toast, so if you wouldn't mind watching it?"

"Not at all," Liza answered cheerfully. She set Boots down in a kitchen chair and moved over to watch the food.

"Sometimes you are more helpful than my own daughter," Mrs. Weasley said, chuckling slightly, before she hurried from the kitchen. As the morning went on, various Weasleys came into the kitchen to claim some toast before running out again.

"Morning, Little E," Fred said as he breezed into the kitchen for the third time.

"Good morning, Fred," Liza giggled. "Do you finally have your trunk packed?"

"Why, yes, I do," Fred replied, picking up a slice of toast and popping it into his mouth. "Honestly, though," he continued through a full mouth of food, "it'll be much better once we get back to Hogwarts." Liza smiled in agreement.

Finally, Mr. Weasley and the boys were pulling the trunks out to the car. Liza was surprised to see that Mr. Weasley had modified the car magically so that all nine of them could fit quite nicely into it.

"Not a word to Molly," Mr. Weasley murmured to her and Harry, who were both marveling over how much space the car had inside it. Once all the trunks were loaded, the five boys piled into the backseat. Mrs. Weasley ushered Liza and Ginny into the front seat next to Mr. Weasley.

"Muggles _do_ know more than we give them credit for, don't they?" Mrs. Weasley commented as she slid into the car next to Ginny and pulled the door shut. "I mean, you'd never know it was this roomy from the outside, would you?" Liza suppressed a giggle, and then they were on their way.

Or were they? Not a minute later, they turned around and hurried back so George could find his box of Filibuster fireworks. Not long after that, they had to go back to the house once more so Fred could retrieve his broomstick. And then, almost to the highway, they had to return a final time when Ginny started whining that she had forgotten her diary.

"Molly, dear," Mr. Weasley started tentatively as Ginny lunged back into the car.

"_No_, Arthur," Mrs. Weasley replied firmly, as though knowing exactly what her husband was about to suggest.

"No one would see," Mr. Weasley insisted. "This little button here is an Invisibility Booster I installed—that'd get us up in the air—then we fly above the clouds. We'd be there in ten minutes and no one would be any the wiser…"

"I said _no_, Arthur, not in broad daylight." This effectively put an end to the conversation, and the ride to King's Cross Station was a quiet yet tense one. As soon as the car was turned off, Mr. Weasley dashed to get them trolleys for their trunks. It was a quarter to eleven; they had fifteen minutes to make it onto the train on time.

They reached the barrier with five minutes to spare.

"Percy first," Mrs. Weasley said, checking an overhead clock. Percy hurried through the barrier, followed closely by Mr. Weasley. Then, like the year before, Fred went through first, then his brother, and Liza ran after them.

"C'mon, Liza!" George called from the closest train compartment. He and Fred helped Liza load her trunk onto the train.

"Let's go find Mum and Dad," Fred said. The three of them hoped onto the platform and ran through the train's mist until they found Mr. and Mrs. Weasley standing with a very nervous looking Ginny.

"There you are," Mrs. Weasley sighed in relief. "You boys look after Ginny this year, you hear? And I hope you have a good term." She kissed each of them on the cheek. "Get onto the train, quick!"

"Where are Ron and Harry?" Liza asked.

"I'm sure they're on the train somewhere," Mr. Weasley replied. "You kids get on board, you should be leaving any moment now." Mrs. Weasley gave Liza a kiss on the cheek as well then hugged her daughter tight.

"Have a good year, Ginny," she said, her voice thick.

"Make us proud, honey," Mr. Weasley added, also wrapping Ginny in a hug.

"C'mon, Ginny," Liza said as the train whistle sounded. "You can sit with me on the way to school." She led the younger girl up into the train, where they stopped to wave out the window to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley as the train began to pull away from the station. Then Liza walked down the train until she found an open compartment, Ginny trailing behind her.

"So, how are you feeling?" Liza asked as they settled into their seats.

"Nervous," Ginny replied. "I've heard so many stories from all my brothers that I'm not even sure what to believe anymore."

"Well, tonight is just the sorting," Liza told her encouragingly. "Well, and the start of term feast, but the sorting is far more important. And all you have to do is put the Sorting Hat on." Ginny nodded.

At that moment, their compartment door slid open. Hermione stood in the doorway, beaming at them.

"Hi, Liza, Ginny!" she exclaimed. "I've been looking all over for you two. But, wait… Where's Harry and Ron?" Her grin vanished quickly as she realized that the boys were not present in the compartment.

"I'm sure they're in their own compartment somewhere else," Liza reasoned. Hermione shook her head worriedly.

"I've looked up and down this train multiple times," she said. "I couldn't find you, and I never found those boys, not in any compartment."

"Do you think they're not here?" Liza asked, concern beginning to take her over. "You think they missed the train?" Ginny looked between the older girls fearfully. Hermione plopped down into the seat next to Liza.

"I'm not sure," she said, "but that's how it would seem." The three girls looked at each other and said nothing for a while. Liza was beyond worried at this point; if Harry and Ron hadn't made it onto the train, how would they get to Hogwarts?

"I'm sure they'll be okay, where ever they are," she finally said aloud. "If nothing else, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley probably know what to do. Assuming that Ron and Harry met back up with your parents, Ginny."

"And what if they didn't?" Ginny asked. There was silence once more.

"They'll be fine," Liza insisted. "You'll see, we'll see them in the Great Hall for the feast." The girls sat back in their seats, silence taking over. Then Liza curled up on her seat and closed her eyes, drifting off for a well-deserved nap.

**~LJ:SP~**

A few hours later, Liza stirred just as the food trolley came rumbling by. The woman pushing the cart rapped her knuckles on their compartment door, and Hermione hopped up to open it.

"Anything from the trolley, girls?" the woman asked. Liza and Hermione eagerly bought some candy. Liza bought a few extra things for Ginny, knowing that she didn't have much spending money.

"Here you go," Liza said, handing over some treats. "I hope that you like Chocolate Frogs." Ginny accepted them gratefully.

"Thanks, Liza," she said. "You really didn't have to do that." Liza waved a hand dismissively.

"So did you have a good nap?" Hermione asked in a slightly teasing tone. Liza rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at her friend.

"We woke up pretty early this morning, okay?" she shot back. Hermione giggled and turned to Ginny.

"So, are you excited to finally be starting at Hogwarts?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah," Ginny said. "I've been wanting to go to Hogwarts for as long as I can remember. It's hard to be the seventh child in your family. You know, having to watch all my brothers go off to school and make friends and be able to actually do magic…"

"I guess neither of us can really relate," Liza said. "We're both only children." She gestured to Hermione as she said this.

"I suppose that's true," Ginny replied. "Well, you can pretend to know how I felt, watching my six brothers leave and have adventures without me. There were a lot of days where it was just me and my mum." At this she rolled her eyes.

"Your mum seems so sweet," Hermione said.

"She is really sweet," Liza assured her.

"Yeah, but you guys didn't grow up with her as your mum," Ginny bit back.

"But you're the youngest, and the only girl," Liza said. "How bad could it have been growing up in your house?"

"We're a very competitive group," Ginny replied. "So now I can finally be on semi-even footing with the rest of them, what with us all at Hogwarts now. Except Bill and Charlie, of course." She unwrapped a sandwich that Mrs. Weasley had given her for the trip. "Well, at least she makes a good sandwich."

Then there was a knock at their compartment door. Hermione jumped up and opened it, and a boy stumbled in.

"Hi, Neville!" Liza said, smiling at her friend. "What are you up to?"

"Hi, Liza, Hermione," Neville replied. "I'm kind of hiding out from Malfoy."

"What did the prick do this time?" Liza asked, anger flaring in her instantly.

"He came into my compartment and demanded some of my chocolate frogs," Neville replied. "Where are Harry and Ron?"

"We're not sure where they are," Hermione answered.

"Um, hold on one minute," Liza butt in. "We'll worry about Harry and Ron later. First we're going to deal with the whole Malfoy problem. Neville, what did we tell you last year? You need to stand up for yourself!"

"I know, I know," Neville mumbled. "He threatened to jinx me though." Liza huffed in anger.

"Malfoy," she growled. "That boy is going to get what's coming to him." Ginny cleared her throat.

"As delightful as this conversation has been, I still have yet to be introduced to your friend," she said, scowling slightly. Liza winced.

"Sorry," she said. "Neville, this is Ginny, Ron's younger sister. Ginny, this is Neville Longbottom. He's in our year." Ginny stuck her hand out.

"Nice to meet you, Neville," she said. Neville returned the gesture, giving her a small smile.

"So… Harry and Ron?" Neville prompted. "You guys haven't seen them?"

"Well, Ginny and I came to the train station with them," Liza replied.

"They were supposed to follow Mum and me through the barrier," Ginny said. "We didn't stay long enough to see if they had actually come through, though, Mum was going ballistic trying to get me on the train before it left."

"We were running late," Liza added for the other two's benefit.

"So… say they didn't make it through the barrier in time, and the train left without them," Hermione said. "What do you think they did?"

"Hopefully they found Mr. and Mrs. Weasley," Liza answered. "If the boys had missed the train, at least they had some adults to help them out. Maybe they would go back to the Burrow and Floo to Hogwarts or something."

"I'm glad I didn't miss the train," Ginny mumbled.

"They may not have," Liza said. "Just because we haven't found them doesn't mean they aren't on here somewhere." Hermione and Neville were both shaking their heads before Liza had finished her sentence.

"I looked all over the train as soon as it had left for you guys," Hermione reminded her. "I must have been to all the compartments twice before I finally found you and Ginny."

"I looked all over, too," Neville said quietly. "I was trying to find somewhere to sit." Liza frowned. She didn't want to believe that the boys may not be on the train, but she knew that all the evidence was pointing towards the fact that they had missed it.

Their compartment door slid open at that point, and Liza groaned when she saw who was standing in the doorway.

"Well, well, well," Draco Malfoy drawled. "Looks like Longbottom found some backup. Too bad they're a bunch of girls!"

"I could knock the stuffing out of you any day, Malfoy," Liza shot back. Malfoy smirked.

"So where are Potter and Weasley?" he asked in a taunting voice. The four in the compartment stayed quiet, refusing to give into Malfoy. "You mean you don't _know_?" Malfoy asked after a few moments of silence. He looked at his sidekicks, Crabbe and Goyle, with a look of pure glee on his face. "You must have heard the rumors by now. Especially _you_, Jones." Liza scowled.

"Either spit it out or leave, slimeball," she spat at him.

"Well, when you put it that way, I think leaving you in suspense sounds like a much better idea," Malfoy said, but he didn't get any more words out before Liza had her wand out and in his face.

"Either tell us, or _leave_," she repeated in a low voice. She thought she saw Malfoy swallow uncomfortably.

"Alright, alright," he said, putting his hands up in mock surrender. "Are you sure you're not a Weasley, what with that fiery temper?" Ginny stood quickly, her wand also out and in the boy's face. Crabbe and Goyle had their wands out as well, puffing their chests out to look bigger.

"If you speak ill about my family, I will curse you from here to kingdom come," Ginny warned. Malfoy looked surprised for a moment before a wicked grin grew on his face.

"Ah, another Weasley, and a girl at that?" he sniggered. "I bet you don't even know any curses, first year." Ginny rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, I'm a first year, but I also have six older brothers," she replied. "I've heard a few curses before, and I can take care of myself."

"Malfoy, are you going to tell us you're little secret, or do I have to escort you into the corridor?" Liza asked. Malfoy let out a laugh.

"Well, apparently your precious Potter and his sidekick the Weasel stole some flying car to get to Hogwarts, since they didn't make it to the train on time," he explained. Liza's mouth flew open in surprise, and Ginny blanched. Malfoy took no notice; rather, he turned to Crabbe and Goyle and nodded to them. They turned and exited the compartment.

"Well, I suppose we'll see you when we get to Hogwarts," Malfoy said. "Unfortunately, I'm not sure I can say the same for Potter and Weasley." He followed the other two Slytherins out, laughing cruelly. Liza waited for them to disappear down the corridor before turning to the other two in the compartment.

"You don't think he's telling the truth, do you?" she asked.

"How could he possibly know that?" Hermione said back. "Where would they find a flying car in the first place?" Ginny and Liza looked guiltily at each other.

"Well, Dad's car can fly," Ginny replied softly. "We took it to the station this morning." There was silence once more. Liza and Ginny returned to their seats, and the four took to looking out the window and the steadily darkening sky. No more was said for a long time.

**~LJ:SP~**

Not long after the confrontation with Malfoy, Neville left the compartment, deciding to meet up with Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas, two other second year Gryffindors. The girls bid him goodbye. The rest of the trip was spent by Liza and Hermione telling Ginny about anything and everything Hogwarts and its students.

It wasn't too much longer that it was time for them to change into their robes. As the girls pulled their garments over their heads, the announcement that they would be arriving soon sounded overhead. Ginny was grinning from ear to ear, and even Liza almost forgot about Harry and Ron. Almost.

After the train pulled into Hogsmeade station, the girls piled out onto the platform.

"Firs' years!" a familiar booming voice called over the heads of the students exiting the train. "Firs' years, over here! This way, please!" Hagrid came into view as the girls moved along the platform.

"Hi, Hagrid!" Liza called up at him.

"Hello, Liza, Hermione," he said back. He spotted Ginny behind them and added, "Another Weasley, eh? Firs' year, I presume?" Ginny nodded timidly.

"This is Ginny," Liza introduced for her. "And yes, she's Ron's sister." She turned to Ginny and added, "We'll be waiting at Gryffindor table for you! Good luck!" Hermione bid her farewell too, and the second years parted with their first year friend.

"Firs' years!" Hagrid bellowed as Hermione and Liza followed the rest of the school. Up ahead were a group of horseless carriages. Students were getting into them in groups of four, and the carriages wheeled away towards what Liza assumed was the direction of Hogwarts. She and Hermione lined up with the rest of the students, and got into a carriage with two older Ravenclaw students.

The carriage carried them up a long winding path. It was dark, so there was not much visible that gave away where they were. It was only a few minutes until they were being deposited at the front door of the school. Liza grinned up at the castle, finally feeling at home. She and Hermione went through the doors into the Entrance Hall, and from there they went into the Great Hall.

"Liza!" George called out from the Gryffindor table. Liza hurried to join him, Hermione right behind her. "Where are Ron and Harry?" George asked as the girls took their seats.

"We're not sure," Liza replied, shrugging and looking around the Great Hall. "Hermione and Neville both looked for them on the train but never saw any trace of them…" She trailed off as she spotted someone across the room at the Slytherin table. As though he sensed her looking at him, the boy looked up and met her eyes. It was John McDevlyn, whom she had befriended the year before.

Liza broke into a wide grin. She was surprised at how much she had been looking forward to seeing him. After making a mental note to catch up to him later, she waved to him. John snapped off a lazy salute back at her.

There was a hush in the Hall. Professor Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts, had stepped up in front of the school.

"Please take your seats, everyone," he called. "The Sorting will begin shortly." He turned and went to his chair at the head table. Not a minute later was the school quiet and Professor McGonagall was opening the doors. Liza watched as the first years marched down the aisle between the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tables, right down the center of the hall. They gathered in front of the head table, and Professor McGonagall produced the Sorting Hat on the stool.

"Look! There's Ginny!" Liza whispered to Hermione, pointing at the girl with the flaming red hair as the hat began to sing. The school applauded as the hat finished its song, and Professor McGonagall began calling students forward. Liza began to zone out; it was quite a ways until McGonagall would be getting to 'Weasley'.

Liza snapped out of it when a small boy with brown hair slid onto the bench next to her. He was a newly sorted first year. He looked timidly at Liza.

"Is it okay if I sit here?" he asked uncertainly.

"Of course it is," Liza said warmly, smiling at him. "What's your name again?"

"Colin," the boy replied. "Colin Creevey."

"Welcome to Gryffindor," Liza said. "I'm Liza Jones, second year. This is Hermione Granger, also a second year. The twins across the way there are the Weasleys, Fred and George." The other three greeted the boy as well.

"You're accent is funny," Colin pointed out to Liza, blushing slightly as he realized how forward he'd been.

"Don't worry about it," Liza told him. "I'm the resident American here at Hogwarts."

"How did you get to come to Hogwarts if you're from America?"

"My birth parents are from England," Liza explained. "I was born here, but I was adopted by an American family when I was about a year old."

"Adopted?" Colin asked, clearly interested. "Does that mean your real parents…?"

"They died when You-Know-Who was still at large," Liza said. "In fact, I was taken away from them for safety."

"Wow," Colin breathed. Then he shook his head and said, "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to get into your business."

"It's okay, Colin," Liza replied. "No worries at all. I figure it's better to just be up front about who I am and where I came from. It seems to save a lot of problems later."

"Weasley, Ginevra!" McGonagall finally called out, and Liza's attention shifted to the Sorting Hat. Of course, the hat was hardly on Ginny's hat when it was proclaiming her a Gryffindor. Liza cheered with Fred, George, and Hermione as Ginny sauntered over and fell into the seat next to her brothers.

"Congrats, Ginny!" Liza said. "See, I knew you'd be in Gryffindor, no problem!" Ginny rolled her eyes but smiled. McGonagall, meanwhile, took the Sorting Hat away and Dumbledore stood once again.

"Welcome, welcome, to yet another year at Hogwarts!" he announced, spreading his arms wide. "I daresay it is time to tuck into our fabulous feast!" He beamed around at the tables as the food began to magically appear on them. Liza and the rest of the Gryffindors dove into the food presented to them on the table to begin to eat their fill.

"Wow!" Colin breathed from next to Liza. He hadn't touched any food yet; instead he was simply looking in awe at the serving dishes. Liza nudged him with her elbow.

"Help yourself, Col!" she exclaimed.

"I've never seen anything like this," Colin replied. "My parents are Muggles."

"You're a Muggle-born?" Liza asked. She gestured to Hermione and said, "Hermione here is too!"

"Don't worry, Colin, you'll get used to magic in no time," Hermione added encouragingly. Colin began to help himself to the wonderful feast in front of him.

They all ate until they could eat no more. The desserts were beginning to fade when Dumbledore stood again.

"Now that we're all full up, I have a few announcements to make before you all trot off to bed," he began. "First, as always, the dark forest is forbidden to all students. Also, Mr. Filch has asked me to remind you once again that magic is forbidden to be used in corridors between classes. There is a list on his office door of all banned items as well, in case you were wondering what else is forbidden.

"Now, everyone off to bed! I daresay you all need to be rested for your first day of classes tomorrow," Dumbledore finished, smiling upon the school. The Hall was immediately filled with talking as the students began to leave.

"First years!" the voice of Percy Weasley called out. "First years, please follow me!"

"Go on, Ginny," Liza sighed. "Best not to upset your brother dearest." Ginny giggled but stood up and went with Colin to join Percy. Liza turned to look at Hermione.

"Well, it's obvious that Harry and Ron aren't here," Hermione said in a worried voice. "We can probably assume they weren't on the train either. Where could they be?" Liza shrugged.

"I don't know," she said. "I hope they aren't in any trouble. C'mon, let's get going to the common room." The girls slowly stood from the table. The Hall was quite empty now, some students still lingering to have conversations with friends from other houses.

"Liza!" a voice called out. Liza turned around and saw John hurrying up to Hermione and herself.

"Hi, John!" she exclaimed, warmth filling her. She was again startled by how happy she was to see her Slytherin friend. "How was the summer?"

"Ah, the usual," John replied. "We went on holiday to France. My mum's family is from there."

"That sounds lovely," Hermione supplied, smiling at the boy. "I've always wanted to visit France." Liza shrugged.

"Yeah, I suppose that would be fun," she agreed.

"So how were your summers?" John asked them.

"Spent time with my parents," Hermione replied. "It was quite nice catching up with them after spending all those months away."

"I did the same until about August," Liza said. "Then I stayed with the Weasleys for a while."

"Oh, yeah, I always forget that because you're American, your parents actually live in America," John said, chuckling. "Well, I'm glad you guys had a good holiday. I suppose we better be getting to our dormitories though?" Liza looked around the Hall, which was now nearly empty.

"Yeah, I suppose we should," she sighed. "Oh well. I guess we'll see you in Potions, eh?" John smiled.

"Hopefully, assuming we're with you Gryffindors again," he replied. "Good night!" The girls bid him good night as well, and he left for the Slytherin common room. Hermione took the lead back to the Gryffindor common room, Liza following along at a slightly slower pace.

"C'mon, Liza," Hermione said. "We don't want to get in trouble on our very first night!" She made a good point, Liza had to admit. They were the only ones in the corridors.

"It'll be okay, Hermione," she said. "We're going directly to the dormitories. It's not like we're out causing mischief or anything." Hermione shrugged and they continued on in silence.

As they came up to the hallway with the portrait of the Fat Lady, they heard her ask for the password to whoever was standing in front of it.

"Er—," the person said. Liza's eyebrows shot up; she recognized that voice…

"_There_ you are!" Hermione exclaimed. She had figured out who it was as well. The girls shot forward to see Ron and Harry, safe and sound in front of the portrait hole.

"Where have you _been_?" Hermione continued. "The most _ridiculous_ rumors—someone said you'd been expelled for crashing a flying _car_-!"

"Well, Malfoy mentioned that you guys were flying a car here," Liza clarified. "Did you guys really take Mr. Weasley's car to get here? What's wrong with the train?"

"Well, we haven't been expelled," Harry replied.

"You're not telling us you _did_ fly here?" Hermione demanded.

"Skip the lecture," Ron said, sounding annoyed, "and tell us the new password." Liza frowned at him.

"It's 'wattlebird'," Hermione told him, "but that's not the point…" She was cut off by a sudden roar of cheers and clapping. The portrait had swung open to reveal the rest of Gryffindor house, all of whom were calling Harry and Ron's names. The boys were heaved inside, leaving Liza to shake her head in disapproval and Hermione to shake her head in slight disgust, her hands on her hips. The girls climbed in after the boys, who were now being passed around the common room.

"Brilliant!" the Weasley twins' friend Lee Jordan was shouting. "Inspired! What an entrance! Flying a car right into the Whomping Willow, people'll be talking about that one for years!" Fred and George fought their way to the front.

"Why couldn't we've come in the car, eh?" they both demanded. Liza stood behind them all, her arms folded across her chest. Hermione had resumed her position next to Liza with her hands on her hips. Then Harry nudged Ron.

"Got to get upstairs," Ron announced after a moment. "Bit tired." Liza snorted, her eyebrows rising suspiciously.

"Night!" Harry threw over his shoulder at Hermione and Liza, and he followed Ron through the crowd and up the boys' staircase. The crowd quickly scattered after they had taken their leave. Hermione muttered to Liza that she was going upstairs and disappeared too. Liza, on the other hand, went over to Fred and George.

"I can't believe they took Dad's car to school!" Fred said. Liza snorted and rolled her eyes.

"I'm sure they didn't do it on purpose," she said. "No offense to either of them, but I don't think they'd have the guts to do that purposefully."

"What about for attention?" George pointed out, to which Liza laughed a little.

"I don't think Harry wants any more attention than he already gets," she said. "I'm sure they had some kind of reason for taking the car." Fred and George looked at each other and shrugged. "Well, I'm off to bed," Liza finished. "Good night, boys."

"Good night Little E," Fred and George echoed.

Liza slowly went up to her dormitory and got ready for bed. After a sleepy 'good night' from Hermione, Liza snuggled under the covers of her familiar four-poster bed and drifted off, thinking only of starting classes in the morning.

**~LJ:SP~**


	5. Chapter 5 Second Year Officially Begins

_**A/N: Hey, look, an update.**_

_**Harry Potter doesn't belong to me!**_

**~LJ:SP~**

**Chapter 5 – Second Year Officially Begins**

The next morning, Liza and Hermione beat the boys down to the Great Hall. After a look up and down Gryffindor table for Ginny, Liza and Hermione sat down with Neville and two other second year boys, Seamus Finnegan and Dean Thomas.

"Hello, boys," Liza greeted. "How were your summers?"

"All right," Seamus and Dean both replied. Hermione pulled out a copy of _Voyages with Vampires_ and leaned it upright against a milk carton.

"What are you doing, Hermione?" Seamus asked, raising his eyebrows at her. Hermione glared at him over her book.

"I'm reading," she answered. "Haven't you ever tried it?" Dean and Neville sniggered, and Seamus smiled. Liza rolled her eyes at her friends' antics and piled some scrambled eggs onto her plate.

Harry and Ron showed up a few minutes later, Ron still yawning. They bid the others good morning.

"Morning," Hermione said, her tone clearly showing her disapproval for the boys' actions the night before.

"Good morning!" Neville said as he shuffled over to make more room for them. "Mail's due any minute—I think Gran's sending a few things I forgot." No sooner were the words out of his mouth when owls started to swoop into the Great Hall. One of them dropped a package square on Neville's head.

Suddenly, something collided with the milk jug Hermione was using to hold her book up. Milk sprayed into the air, along with some feathers, and Ron exclaimed, "_Errol_!" He reached down and pulled the owl up by his feet. As he was setting the bird down, Liza looked at the beak.

"Uh, Ron…?" she said, gesturing at the red envelope. Ron looked at it and his expression quickly turned to one of horror.

"Oh, no," he moaned.

"It's all right, he's still alive," Hermione assured him, poking the bird softly.

"It's not that," Ron said, shaking his head, "it's _that_." Hermione and Harry looked blankly at the envelope sitting on the table.

"What's the matter?" Harry finally asked.

"She's—she's sent me a Howler," Ron replied. Liza winced.

"You'd better open it, Ron," Neville said, his voice shaking slightly. "It'll be worse if you don't. My gran sent me one once, and I ignored it and… it was horrible."

"What's a Howler?" Harry demanded, looking quite puzzled. But the envelope had started to smoke slightly, and Liza, Ron, and Neville could do nothing but stare transfixed at it.

"Open it," Liza said. "It'll all be over in a few minutes…" Ron nodded and picked up the envelope. He carefully slit the top open. Neville stuffed his fingers in his ears, and a second later a loud scream erupted from the envelope.

"—STEALING THE CARE, I WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN SURPRISED IF THEY'D EXPELLED YOU, YOU WAIT TILL I GET HOLD OF YOU, I DON'T SUPPOSE YOU STOPPED TO THINK WHAT YOUR FATHER AND I WENT THROUGH WHEN WE SAW IT WAS GONE!" Everyone turned to see where the noise was coming from. It was reverberating around the hall, shaking the silverware on the tables. Ron slunk down low in his seat.

"YOUR FATHER'S FACING AN INQUIRY AT WORK, IT'S ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT AND IF YOU PUT ANOTHER TOE OUT OF LINE WE'LL BRING YOU STRAIGHT BACK HOME." The envelope, laying on the table, burst into a small flame and crumbled to ashes. Nobody uttered a sound.

Finally a few people snickered, which turned into full out laughs, and soon everyone was going back to their conversations. Hermione closed her book and set it on the table.

"Well, I don't know what you expected, Ron," Hermione started, "but you…"

"Don't tell me I deserved it," Ron growled. Liza rolled her eyes.

"Well you kind of did," she told him. Ron huffed and shoved a spoonful of cereal into his mouth.

"Schedules!" Professor McGonagall announced as she walked down the table. She handed Liza and the others their schedules.

"Double Herbology," Ron moaned.

"Come on, let's get going," Liza replied, standing up from the table. Ron and Harry both groaned in protest, but Hermione hopped up as well. "Either come on, or we're leaving without you," Liza insisted. She slung her bag over her shoulder and put her hands on her hips. The boys slowly got up, stuffing some last bits of toast in their mouths. Dean, Seamus, and Neville also got up and left ahead of them.

Liza and Hermione led the way out of the castle. They trooped across the grounds, chatting aimlessly. As they came upon the greenhouse, they saw the rest of the class standing outside the doors. Professor Sprout hadn't shown up yet. Liza and Hermione exchanged greetings with some of the Hufflepuff girls.

"Look, here comes Professor Sprout," said Parvati Patil, a second year Gryffindor, and Liza and Hermione's dorm mate. She gasped immediately and added in a breathless voice, "Oh, and Lockhart!" Hermione and the Hufflepuff girls whipped around, quickly smoothing their hair and uniforms. Sure enough, Lockhart was following Professor Sprout down the lawn. Next to Liza, Ron let out a low groan. Harry awkwardly itched the back of his neck.

"Oh, hello there!" Lockhart called out as he neared the group of students. Professor Sprout continued ahead of him, a box of bandages in her arms. "Just been showing Professor Sprout the right way to doctor a Whomping Willow!" Lockhart continued. "But I don't want you running away with the idea that I'm better at Herbology than she is! I just happen to have met several exotic plants on my travels…" Ron scoffed quietly, and Liza had to repress a snort.

"Greenhouse three today, chaps!" Professor Sprout said, ignoring Lockhart. Hermione gasped in excitement, and many other students looked around at each other in interest. The year before they had only ever worked in greenhouse one. Professor Sprout walked up to the doors of the greenhouse, pulled a large key from her belt, and unlocked the door. The students began to file inside. Liza was following Hermione when she heard something that made her pause.

"Harry! I've been wanting a word," Lockhart was saying. Liza turned to see him beaming at Harry. "You don't mind if he's a couple minutes late, do you, Professor Sprout?" The rest of the students were inside the greenhouse, and Professor Sprout stood in the doorway, frowning at the newest professor. After a pause, Lockhart said, "That's the ticket!" Then he promptly shut the door in Professor Sprout's face.

Muttering, Professor Sprout turned and ushered the few remaining students inside, Liza included.

"Come, come, everyone take a spot at the tables," she said in an annoyed tone. The second years hustled to the tables, not wanting to cross the irritated professor. She continued to bustle about, still murmuring darkly. Liza ended up across the table from Hermione and next to Hannah Abbott, one of the Hufflepuff girls.

"So, do you think he's still so great?" Ron asked, turning to Hermione. "The way he whisked Harry away…"

"It's because he's famous," Liza added, frowning. "He thinks he can get away with it. Like it's okay for him to disrespect the other teachers simply because he's written a few books…" Professor Sprout began calling for attention, standing at the head of the tables. In front of her were many pairs of earmuffs. She opened her mouth to speak, but paused, nodding slightly towards the back of the greenhouse. Liza turned to see Harry edge into a spot between Ron and Hermione.

"We'll be repotting Mandrakes today," Professor Sprout began when she had the class's full attention. "Now, who can tell me the properties of the Mandrake?" Hermione instantly raised her hand. "Miss Granger," Professor Sprout prompted.

"Mandrake, or Mandragora, is a powerful restorative," Hermione recited. "It is used to return people who have been transfigured or cursed to their original state."

"Excellent," Professor Sprout said. "Ten points to Gryffindor." Liza and a few other Gryffindors smiled their approval in Hermione's direction. "The Mandrake forms an essential part of most antidotes. It is also, however, dangerous. Who can tell me why? Miss Granger?"

"The cry of the Mandrake is fatal to anyone who hears it," Hermione answered. Liza rose her eyebrows slightly; these things could kill them just by screaming?

"Precisely. Take another ten points," Professor Sprout said. "Now, the Mandrakes we have here are still very young." She motioned to the trays on the tables in front of them, where rows of plants were sitting. Liza gaped slightly, along with some of the other students who had leaned forward to look more closely. None of them (except probably Hermione) had realized that the Mandrakes were sitting on the tables in front of them. Professor Sprout, meanwhile, waved her wand. She levitated the earmuffs into the air and down the two rows of second years.

"Everyone take a pair of earmuffs," she instructed. All the students snatched the earmuffs out of the air with most trying to avoid getting a pink pair. "When I tell you to put them on," Professor Sprout continued, "make sure your ears are _completely_ covered. When it is safe to remove them, I will give you the thumbs up. Right—earmuffs _on_." Liza quickly pulled the earmuffs over her head and tightened them against her ears. She couldn't hear anything even if she wanted to.

Meanwhile, Professor Sprout had put on her own earmuffs and stepped in front of one of the potted plants. She shook the sleeves of her robes up to her elbows, and then she grasped the leafs poking out of the soil and tugged hard. At the end of the leafs was what looked like an ugly bald baby, who shook its fists and was clearly screaming at the top of its lungs. Liza quickly covered her earmuffs with her hands in surprise, although no noise could get through them. Now Professor Sprout took a larger pot out from under her demonstration table and dropped the Mandrake inside of it, quickly covering it with more soil. Then she gave the students all a thumbs up then removed her own earmuffs. Liza hesitantly removed her earmuffs after the professor had.

"As our Mandrakes are only seedlings, their cries won't kill yet," Professor Sprout informed the students. "However, they _will_ knock you out for several hours, and as I'm sure none of you want to miss your first day back, make sure your earmuffs are securely in place while you work. I will attract your attention when it is time to pack up.

"I will split you up into four, and there will be four to each tray in front of you," she continued. "There is a large supply of pots here," she motioned to the front of the greenhouse, "compost in the sacks over there," she pointed over to one side, "and be careful of the Venomous Tentacula, it's teething." With that she slapped a vine that had been crawling over her shoulder, and it receded quickly. Then she walked along the tables, grouping the students off. Liza was paired with Hannah, Neville, and Dean, while Harry, Hermione, and Ron were joined by Justin Finch-Fletchley, a Hufflepuff boy.

"Start by collecting some large pots from the front and filing them with some compost," Professor Sprout announced over the heads of the students. "When we're all ready, I'll give the signal to put your earmuffs on!" There were murmurs of conversation as the groups of students prepared to begin the repotting of the Mandrakes. Liza was fairly happy with her group. Hannah was very nice, Dean was a hard and detailed worker, and Neville was surprising good at Herbology, as compared to most of their other subjects. They quickly had four large pots in front of them and were filling them with compost.

"Okay, so we can all take a turn actually pulling the Mandrake out of the pot," Liza said. "Professor Sprout made it look pretty simple, but I'm sure she's done this many times before."

"One person pull, another help put the Mandrake into the new pot, and the other two cover it up," Dean suggested. The other three nodded in agreement.

"Alright, please put your earmuffs on," Professor Sprout announced, pulling her own earmuffs over her ears. Liza and her fellow group members hurriedly put theirs on as well. Professor Sprout took a look around the room, making sure that everyone had earmuffs on, and then waved her wand. Above their heads, large letters appeared, spelling out, 'BEGIN'.

For the rest of the class, the students were putting the Mandrakes into new pots. As Liza had predicted, Professor Sprout had made the procedure look quite easy. However, the second years struggled much more than she had. For as small as the Mandrakes were, they could put up quite the fight. Finally Professor Sprout was signaling everyone to finish the Mandrake they were on, and a few minutes later, the second years could remove their earmuffs. Liza's ears were filled with the sounds of her classmates panting and moaning.

"That was quite enjoyable," Neville was saying as they cleaned up their station. Liza looked over at him, smiling slightly.

"I'm glad that at least one of us enjoyed ourselves," she chuckled. Neville smiled back. The loud gong sounded across the grounds, signaling the end of the class hour. The Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs trooped up the front lawn and into the castle. The Hufflepuffs broke away from the Gryffindors at the Entrance Hall, walking into a chamber off the Great Hall, and the Gryffindors hurried up to their tower to wash up.

"Transfiguration next," Liza said to Hermione as they washed their arms in the girls' bathroom. "I wonder what McGonagall will have us doing today." They met up with the other second years in the common room, and they walked to Transfiguration as a group.

Once in the classroom, Liza seated herself at a desk next to Hermione. Harry and Ron sat at the desk behind them. Professor McGonagall entered the classroom a few minutes later.

"Good morning, Gryffindors," she said in her normal brisk tone. "I hope you have remembered the basics of Transfiguration from last term. Today we will simply be practicing turning a beetle into a button." She levitated the beetles from a box on her desk to each student. Liza shuddered; she hated insects. "You may begin. I want you to Transfigure as many beetles into buttons as you are able within the next hour." The room filled with incantations and the swishing of wands. It took Liza a little while to get the spell correct, and then a while longer to successfully transfigure the beetle into a button. Hermione, of course, began producing buttons immediately.

Halfway through class, Liza turned to see how Harry and Ron were doing. Harry was mostly staring at his beetle, which was scuttling along on his desk. Ron, on the other hand, seemed to have a malfunctioning wand.

"Ron, what have you done to your wand?" Liza asked, noticed the large amount of Spellotape near the end of his wand. Ron scowled.

"It snapped when we were in the car," Harry said in a hushed tone. Ron waved his wand to transfigure his beetle, and his wand let off a large amount of dark smoke that smelled something awful. Most of the class turned to see what was causing it, and Professor McGonagall waved her wand to clear it away. Unfortunately, while in the smoke, Ron had squished his beetle with his elbow. Grumbling darkly, he raised his hand to get a new beetle.

"You are supposed to be turning your beetle into a button, Mr. Weasley," Professor McGonagall scolded. Then she turned to the class and added, "If you are having problems, please consult your books." Liza turned around to focus on her own beetle.

The lunch bell rang soon after. Liza stood and stretched, pocketing the two good buttons she had produced during the class. She and Hermione went to follow the others out of the room, pausing to see what Harry and Ron were doing.

"Go on ahead of us," Harry said, waving them off. Ron looked livid as he smacked his wand on the tabletop. Liza shrugged.

"If you say so," she replied. She linked arms with Hermione, and the two girls exited the room. They joined the rest of the school going to lunch. Liza pulled Hermione over to sit next to Neville.

"How did you do during Transfiguration, Neville?" Liza asked. Neville shook his head.

"I tried," he replied. "I just couldn't get the beetle to do what I wanted. But that's okay for now, I suppose." Hermione pulled her buttons out and showed Neville how she'd done. Harry and Ron caught up with them at that moment, and Hermione turned around to show them, too. Ron scowled.

"What've we got this afternoon?" Harry cut in before Ron could say anything mean. The boys sat across from the girls at the table.

"Defense Against the Dark Arts," Hermione replied promptly. Ron snatched her schedule out of her hands.

"_Why_ have you outlined all Lockhart's lessons in little hearts?" he demanded. Liza pulled the schedule out of Ron's hands and looked to see if it was true.

"Yeah, why are there hearts all over his lesson times?" she repeated. "He doesn't seem very nice, after all, especially the way he treated Professor Sprout this morning." Hermione grabbed her schedule back, her face burning bright red. Ron rolled his eyes, and Liza kicked him under the table.

After lunch, they all went outside for some fresh air. Hermione pulled out her copy of _Voyages with Vampires_, sat down on the steps, and began reading. Liza sat down on a stair a few down from Hermione, and the boys stood at the bottom, talking about Quidditch. They were only there for a few minutes when Colin Creevey came up to them, clutching a camera.

"Hi, Colin," Liza greeted, smiling at the first year. He smiled back. Then his eyes darted to look at Harry, going bright red.

"All right, Harry? I'm—I'm Colin Creevey," he said, taking a small step up to Harry. "I'm in Gryffindor, too. D'you think—would it be all right if—can I have a picture?" He lifted his camera a bit.

"A picture?" Harry asked, sounding quite puzzled.

"So I can prove I've met you," Colin replied hurried on. "I know all about you. Everyone's told me. About how you survived when You-Know-Who tried to kill you and how he disappeared and everything and how you've still got a lightning scar on your forehead and a boy in my dormitory said if I develop the film in the right potion, the pictures'll _move_." Colin had to pause then to take a breath. "It's _amazing_ here, isn't it? I never knew all the odd stuff I could do was magic till I got the letter from Hogwarts. My dad's a milkman, he couldn't believe it either. So I'm taking loads of pictures to send home to him. And it'd be really good if I had one of you… Maybe your friend could take it and I could stand next to you? And then, could you sign it?" Liza opened her mouth to try and calm Colin down when another voice nearby cut it.

"_Signed photos_?" Draco Malfoy sauntered over with his usual guard of Crabbe and Goyle on either side of him. "You're giving out _signed photos_, Potter?"

"Stuff it, Malfoy," Liza growled, getting up to stand next to Harry. Malfoy raised his eyebrows at her once.

"Everyone line up!" Malfoy called out to the growing crowd in the courtyard. "Harry Potter's giving out signed photos!" Crabbe and Goyle guffawed next to their leader.

"No, I'm not," Harry snapped back. "Shut up, Malfoy."

"You're just jealous," Colin added, seemingly bravely, although he seemed to shrink into Harry and Liza.

"_Jealous_?" Malfoy asked gleefully, basking in the crowd that had gathered around them. "Of what? I don't want a foul scar right across my head, thanks. I don't think getting your head cut open makes you that special, myself."

"Eat slugs, Malfoy," Ron spat. Crabbe glared at him, cracking his knuckles threateningly.

"Be careful, Weasley," Malfoy taunted. "You don't want to start any trouble or your mommy'll have to come and take you away from school." He straightened up and put on a falsetto, saying, "'_If you put another toe out of line'_..." A group of Slytherin students laughed aloud at his imitation. "Weasley would like a signed photo, Potter," Malfoy continued. "It'd be worth more than his family's whole house!" Ron had his wand out in an instant, and Liza grabbed his arm immediately.

"Look out!" Hermione hissed from behind them. Everyone looked around to see Lockhart coming towards them.

"What's all this, what's all this?" he was saying as he strode forward. "Who's giving out signed photos?" He spotted Harry, broke out into a wide grin, and flung his arm around Harry's shoulders. "Shouldn't have asked! We meet again, Harry!" Lockhart pulled Harry away from Liza and Ron. "Come on then, Mr. Creevey," Lockhart addressed Colin. "A double portrait, can't do better than that, and we'll _both_ sign it for you." Liza scoffed softly as Colin nervously yet excitedly snapped the picture. The bell rang from the castle, and Lockhart started shouting, "Off you go, move along there!" And keeping Harry under his arm, he swept off to the castle.

"That Lockhart sure is something, isn't he?" Colin said to Liza as she picked up her book bag.

"Yes, he sure is something," Liza muttered darkly. "But not something good." She said good bye to the first year and followed Hermione and Ron back into the castle. Hermione hurried ahead of them, eager to get to their first Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson, while Liza and Ron trailed behind her.

"What a foul git," Ron murmured to Liza.

"Malfoy or Lockhart?" Liza asked, smirking slightly.

"Both," Ron replied. "Mostly Malfoy, though. Someday he's going to get what he deserves."

"A swift kick in the pants," Liza cut in, giggling slightly. "Don't worry, Ron, he'll get what's coming to him." They had now reached the classroom, and Hermione hurried in. Ron and Liza followed behind. They spotted Harry in the back of the room and went to join him. Ron and Liza sat on one side of him, and Hermione on the other.

"You could've fried an egg on your face," Ron commented to Harry as they sat. "You'd better hope Creevey doesn't meet Ginny, or they'll be starting a Harry Potter fan club."

"Shut up," Harry grumbled.

"Be nice, Ron," Liza said. "Colin is very nice." Ron scoffed and Liza glared at him. "He is! He's just a first year, he's very eager and excited to be here. Just like we were last year." The rest of the class was now seated, and Lockhart stood at the front of the room, clearing his throat for attention. Everyone quieted, and Lockhart walked forward, scooping up one of Neville's books.

"Me," Lockhart started, motioning to the picture of himself on the cover. "Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin, Third Class, Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defense League, and five-time winner of _Witch Weekly's_ Most-Charming-Smile Award—but I don't talk about that. I didn't get rid of the Bandon Banshee by _smiling_ at her!" He paused, and a few students giggled half-heartedly. Liza glanced over and saw Hermione hanging on the man's every word, her mouth slightly agape.

"I see you've all bought a complete set of my books—well done," Lockhart continued. Liza had to hold back a snort; of course they had bought the complete set of his books. All the books had been on their book list! "I thought we'd start today with a little quiz." Most of the class let out groans at this statement. "Nothing to worry about," Lockhart reassured them. "Just to check how well you've read them, how much you've taken in…" He handed out the papers, smiling around at all of them oblivious to most of their looks of despair.

"Have you read any of the books?" Ron asked Liza in a hushed voice, looking slightly shocked. Liza shook her head.

"You have thirty minutes!" Lockhart called, silencing the whispers that had broken out among the class. "Start—_now_!" Liza leafed through the pieces of parchment, reading through the quiz. All of the questions were questions about Lockhart. Liza was confused as to how helpful his books would be if all the questions he had about them were about him and not about actual defense.

When their time was up, Lockhart collected their papers. He started looking through them, his brow furrowed.

"Tut, tut," he said. "Hardly any of you remembered that my favorite color is lilac. I says so in _Year with the Yeti_. And a few of you need to read _Wandering with Werewolves_ more carefully—I clearly state in chapter twelve that my ideal birthday gift would be harmony between all magic and non-magic peoples—though I wouldn't say no to a large bottle of Ogden's Old Firewhiskey!" Liza noticed at the front of the room that Seamus and Dean were trying very hard to laugh out loud. She glanced over at her friends. Harry and Ron were both looking at Lockhart incredulously, while Hermione was listening with rapt attention.

"But Miss Hermione Granger," Lockhart continued, and Hermione let out an audible gasp, "knew my secret ambition is to rid the world of evil and market my own range of hair-care potions—good girl! In fact," he added, quickly reading through the rest of her quiz, "full marks! Where is Miss Hermione Granger?" The rest of the class looked to Hermione as she raised her hand.

"Excellent!" Lockhart congratulated. "Quite excellent! Take ten points for Gryffindor! And so—to business…" He bent down behind his desk and produced a cage covered with a sheet from behind it. He set it atop the table. "Now—be warned! It is my job to arm you against the foulest creatures known to wizardkind! You may find yourself facing your worst fears in this room. Know only that no harm can befall you whilst I am here. All I ask is that you remain calm." The whole class seems partly confused and partly on-edge; what in the world did Lockhart have in that cage? "I must ask you not to scream," he cautioned all of them. "It might provoke them." With that, he removed the sheet with a flourish.

"Yes. _Freshly caught Cornish pixies_," he introduced in a loud voice. He had to shout over the noise the pixies had begun to make as soon as the cover had been removed. Seamus let out a loud laugh at this. "Yes?" Lockhart asked, turning to him.

"Well, they're not…," Seamus started, choking on his own laughter. "They're not very…_dangerous_, are they?"

"Don't be so sure!" Lockhart replied. "Devilishly tricky little blighters they can be. Right, then! Let's see what you make of them!" He tapped the lock with his wand; the door of the cage burst open, and the pixies zoomed out into the room.

It was like Lockhart had opened a can of worms. There were shouts of surprise as the students dove underneath the tables. Neville was the only one who didn't make it under a table in time. Two pixies grabbed him by the ears and lifted him into the air. A few immediately flew out the windows, breaking the glass as they went. The rest set to work on breaking as much as they could. They ripped papers, pulled the pages out of books, pulled pictures and other things from the walls, and threw ink bottles around. They threw things out the now-broken windows.

"Come on now—round them up, round them up, they're only pixies!" Lockhart shouted above the mayhem.

"'Only pixies'!?" Liza yelled. "Weren't you just telling Seamus that they can be quite dangerous? _We're only second-year students_!" Lockhart pulled out his wand and brandished it in the air.

"_Peskipiski Pesternomi_!" he recited, looking confident. Unfortunately, nothing happened. A pixie flew at Lockhart's face and pulled the wand out of his hand. Then it flew to the window and tossed it out. Lockhart blinked and then dove under his desk. Seconds later, Neville came crashing down from where he'd been hanging on the chandelier.

The bell rang, barely able to be heard above the noise. The rest of the class stampeded for the door. Liza, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were last in line, but they were stopped by Lockhart.

"Well, I'll ask you four to just nip the rest of them back into their cage," he called out to them. He hurried past them, following the rest of the class into the corridor, and snapped the door shut behind him. Liza, Harry, and Ron stared after him in disbelief.

"Can you _believe_ him?" Ron asked furiously, swatting a pixie away from his ear.

"He just wants to give us some hands-on experience," Hermione replied. She had her wand out, freezing the pixies and tossing them back in their cage. Many of them had escaped out the window by now.

"_Hands on_?" Harry said. "Hermione, he didn't have a clue what he was doing!"

"Rubbish," Hermione scoffed. "You've read his books—."

"Hermione, none of us have read his books, other than you," Liza said, rolling her eyes.

"But look at all those amazing things he's done!" Hermione insisted.

"He _says_ he's done," Ron muttered darkly. Hermione scowled and ignored Ron as they finished rounding up the pixies. Liza couldn't help but wonder if Ron was on to something. Lockhart claimed to do all these amazing things, so why couldn't he have taken control of the pixies?

**~LJ:SP~**


End file.
